Alumasc Group Regulatory News (ALU)

8 Jul 2008 07:00



THE ALUMASC GROUP PLC

Pre-Close Trading Update

Alumasc (ALU:L), the premium building and engineering products group, expects to announce its results for the year to 30 June 2008 in September 2008. Prior to entering its closed period, Alumasc today issues a trading update.

Overall, the business has performed strongly and in line with management expectations for the year.

The Building Products division, the larger of the two divisions, has enjoyed a strong final quarter, with solid performances from the Group's sustainable building products, particularly Levolux, the UK's leading supplier of solar shading systems for buildings, which enters the year to 30 June 2009 with record order books.

Engineering Products will show the accounting adjustments following the overstatement of inventories and other assets at Alumasc Precision, announced on 19 May 2008. With the investigation substantially completed, the Board assesses the write down required to inventories and other assets to be slightly higher than the range previously indicated of £2.0 million to £2.5 million at around £2.75m, of which approximately £1.5m (rather than £1m, as previously indicated) relates to the financial year just ended, with the balance relating to prior years. Further work is being carried out to ensure that all OEM contracts are giving adequate returns. Exceptional cash costs of approximately £0.4 million have arisen from the recent investigation and management restructuring.

The Group's balance sheet remains strong with the Directors expecting net borrowings to be below £10 million as at 30 June 2008.

John McCall, Chairman commented: "The Group has traded strongly throughout the year, and enters the new financial year with good order books and a strong financial base from which to build and to deal with the challenges of rising metal, energy and currency costs".

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