Last checked at 29 Jun 2009 13:15
Altitude Group plc
("the Company")
Suspension of trading on AIM and Trading Update
Delayed publication of Results and Suspension of Trading
The board of directors (the "Board") of Altitude Group plc, the promotional merchandise and marketing solutions group announce that following the departure of the CEO Craig Slater, and Finance Director Tim Sykes, it has commenced with the assistance of KPMG, the auditors to the Company, a full review of the preliminary results for the year ended December 31st 2008.
The review identified material (but not cash-related) differences between the actual results and the preliminary results published on 17th March 2009.
The newly appointed FD, David Smith, and incoming CEO, Martin Varley with help from KPMG have been working diligently to be in a position to publish the revised and finalised accounts for the period by the 30th June 2009, but have today become aware that this will not be possible in time and therefore there will be a temporary suspension of the shares from trading on AIM whilst the accounts are completed and published. It is expected that the finalisation of the accounts will take a further 2-3 weeks, following which they will be published immediately and trading will resume of the Company's shares on AIM.
Trading Update
Turning to the current trading environment, in the first half of the year overall the Company is trading profitably. The legacy promotional product businesses, however, have suffered reduced spend particularly from the financial and motoring sector clients which will result in lower revenue, and lower order intake levels that the board expect will affect the second half of the year in a similar way.
As a result of this, we expect the results for the first half of 2009 to show revenue in the trade and information services business to be ahead of the first half of the prior year and revenue in the promotional product businesses to be lower than the first half 2008.
Overall the business continues to be profitable, and has had good performances from some of the faster growing divisions that encourage us that our plan to invest in these higher margin businesses was correct as they are now delivering improved results.
Colin Cooke, Chairman of the Company said "I am disappointed that we have had to take this action with regard to the corrections that are required to the accounts but we are placing an immediate priority on continuing the excellent work of the senior management team in running the businesses whilst keeping a close eye on costs in this challenging environment".
Enquiries:
Altitude Group plc
Colin Cooke, Chairman Tel: 0870 224 6677
Martin Varley, CEO Tel: 07912 599 012
Daniel Stewart & Company plc
Simon Leathers / Simon Starr Tel: 020 7776 6550