CHARTER plc Preliminary Results 2002
07/03/2003
(for the year ended 31 December 2002)
Highlights
- Operating profit of £9.5 million (2001: £1.4 million)
- Profit before tax of £12.0 million (2001: loss of £20.3 million before tax)
- Headline earnings per share 5.1 pence (2001: loss per share of 34.8 pence)
- Net debt reduced by £20.1 million and further reductions targeted
- Progress made in restructuring the group
Summary of results
(£ million)
 |
Before exceptional items |
|
Exceptional items |
|
Total | |
Total | |
| 2002 | 2002 | 2002 | 2001 | |||||
|
||||||||
| Turnover | 900.5 | - | 900.5 | 961.8 | ||||
| Adjusted operating profit1 | 36.0 | - | 36.0 | 37.2 | ||||
| Amortisation of goodwill | (1.2) | - | (1.2) | (1.1) | ||||
| Operating exceptional items | - | (25.3) | (25.3) | (34.7) | ||||
| Operating profit | 34.8 | (25.3) | 9.5 | 1.4 | ||||
|
||||||||
| Non-operating exceptional items | - | 21.8 | 21.8 | (7.8) | ||||
| Profit/(loss) before interest | 34.8 | (3.5) | 31.3 | (6.4) | ||||
| Interest | (19.3) | - | (19.3) | (18.3) | ||||
| Exceptional interest credit | - | - | - | 4.4 | ||||
| Profit/(loss) before tax | 15.5 | (3.5) | 12.0 | (20.3) | ||||
| Net debt | 194.0 | 214.1 | ||||||
|
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| (pence per share) | ||||||||
| Headline earnings per share | 5.1 | 34.8 | ||||||
| Underlying earnings per share1 | 8.6 | 12.3 | ||||||
| 1before exceptional items and amortisation of goodwill | ||||||||
David Gawler, Chairman and Chief Executive, commented today:
“I am pleased to report that for the year ended 31 December 2002 the group generated a profit before tax of £12.0 million compared with a loss before tax of £20.3 million in 2001.
Significant progress has been made during the year in closing loss making units in Howden and Esab, and restructuring several of the group’s operating businesses. These measures have reduced the group’s ongoing cost base, which should provide the foundation for an improvement in the competitive position of the group’s operating businesses. Demand in 2002 was below that experienced in the prior year and, provided that market conditions do not decline further, and the Company’s bank facilities are renewed on satisfactory terms, the Board anticipates that the group’s operating profit, before exceptional items, in 2003 will be broadly in line with market expectations.”
Contact
Andrew Fenwick; Pamela Small, Brunswick +44 (0) 20 7404 5959
David Gawler, Chairman and Chief Executive; David Eilbeck, Finance Director
+44 (0) 20 7404 5959
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