International Greetings Swings To FY10 Pft; Eyes Profit Growth

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Gift wrap and cards designer and maker International Greetings PLC (IGR.LN) Wednesday swung to a small full-year pretax profit and said that although market conditions remain tough, its order book is encouraging and it is well-placed to increase profit. The firm made a GBP525,000 pretax profit in the year to March 31, compared with a GBP22.8 million loss a year earlier. The move in to the black was prompted by fewer costs, as last year it impaired GBP5.3 million of property, plant and equipment after closing a business, and wrote off GBP3.1 million of inventory and debtors following the administration of a number of U.K. high street retailers. Nonetheless, it swung to a fiscal 2010 GBP3.6 million operating profit from a GBP17.5 million operating loss a year earlier. This offset an 8% fall in revenue from continuing operations to GBP200 million from GBP217 million. Despite the move in to the black, International Greetings didn't declare a dividend payment, instead saying it will review its dividend policy once it is satisfied that there is a consistent upward trend in profits and when its debt has been further reduced. It ended the fiscal with net debt of GBP48.8 million, compared with GBP68.5 million a year earlier. -By Hannah Benjamin, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9298; hannah.benjamin@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 14, 2010 03:04 ET (07:04 GMT)