Alumasc Group Regulatory News (ALU)

7 Nov 2005 15:58

Alumasc Group PLC07 November 2005 THE ALUMASC GROUP PLC Closure of Copal Casting Alumasc, the high specification building and engineering products company,announces the closure of Copal, its loss-making gravity casting business, basedin Handsworth, West Midlands. Following expressions of interest, negotiations to sell Copal have been takingplace for several months, but have failed to secure a buyer. The business, whichhas incurred mounting losses since the demise of Rover in April, will commenceclosure on 18 November 2005. Alumasc's accounts for the year to 30 June 2005 included Copal's losses in theyear and a write-down of assets in anticipation of a sale of the business.Trading losses prior to closure in the current year and redundancy costs,estimated atapproximately £1.5 million in aggregate, will be accounted for as discontinuedactivities in the half year accounts to 31 December 2005. Withdrawal from Copal, as from Bissell earlier in 2005, is consistent with theGroup's strategy to focus its development in those core business areas ofpremium building and engineering products where know-how and service are at apremium. Alumasc's ongoing engineering activities are in the process of replacingbusiness at Rover and Powertrain, the loss of which was reported to have costthe Group£1 million in the prior year. While the introduction of new projects andcustomers outside the automotive industry is, in general, proceedingsatisfactorily, it appears unlikely to compensate fully in the short term forthe work lost, with the result that the Board now anticipates lower profits fromits ongoing engineering business in the first half of the current year (to 31December 2005) than in the equivalent period of the prior year, with a furtherincrease in the Group's second half bias, highlighted in last month's AGMStatement. Meanwhile, the Group's building products activities, whichcontributed two-thirds to last year's profits, have continued to advance in theearly months of the current year.Enquiries: The Alumasc Group plc 01536-383 844John McCall (Chairman)Paul Hooper (Chief Executive) Bankside Consultants LimitedCharles Ponsonby 020-7367 8851 charles.ponsonby@bankside.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange