Abrdn Property Regulatory News (API)

1 Feb 2006 15:06

API Group PLC01 February 2006 1 February 2006 API GROUP PLC CHAIRMAN'S AGM STATEMENT At today's Annual General Meeting of API Group plc, David Hudd, the Group's Non-executive Chairman, made the following statement in connection with currenttrading: "In the preliminary announcement in December of the Group's results for the yearended 30 September 2005, we indicated that trading conditions were expected toremain tough in most markets during 2006 and this has proven to be the case. While our US and Chinese foils businesses have performed ahead of ourexpectations during the first quarter and the specialised holographic foilbusiness is on plan, our European foils and laminates business have experiencedmore challenging conditions. Although demand has remained relatively robust,increased competition has led to pressure on margins, particularly on theContinent and consequently the operating results for the continuing businessesfor the first half are expected to be below those achieved in the first halflast year. As in previous years, the outcome for the full year remains dependent uponperformance in the seasonally much busier final quarter. The prospects forcontinuation of the strong performance achieved in the US and Asia-Pacificregions are good and the Group is responding to the challenges in its keyEuropean markets. We remain confident that the full year results for 2006 willrepresent a considerable improvement over those of 2005." Ends Enquiries:David Walton 01625 858700Chief Executive, API Group plc Tim Spratt/Caroline WellsFinancial Dynamics 020 7831 3113 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange