Coral Products Regulatory News (CRU)

27 Aug 2009 10:51



27 August 2009

CORAL PRODUCTS PLC

INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT 

Coral Products PLC (the Company) presents its Interim Management Statement as at 27 August 2009 as required by the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4.3.

The Company published its Annual Report for the year to 30 April 2009 on 24 July 2009. This Interim Management Statement summarises any further relevant information for the period since that announcement.

Material Events and Transactions

There are no material events or transactions to report for the period and performance has continued in line with Directors' expectations. The Company has introduced household crates principally to serve the recycling market and is at design and prototype stage for kitchen and kerbside food waste containers also in the same market. The initial response to these new products is encouraging. 

Trading Activity

Sales of media based products have continued to struggle in the difficult market conditions. Our order book over the next few months has improved however and we anticipate a better performance in the coming months. Sales for household items have remained in line with forecast.

Operating margins have benefited from the fall in raw material prices although this trend has recently reversed due to supply constraints and rises in the oil price. In the current market conditions cost increases are difficult to pass through in sales prices.

As a result, we are still reporting manageable trading losses and a positive EBITDA, due to the large depreciation expense. The outlook continues to improve as we anticipate our new products will have a favourable impact upon their markets. 

Financial Position

The financial position remains satisfactory with net assets of £6.9m. The Company is operating within its Invoice  Discounting facility line. Investment is being made in new tools for food waste containers and this will initially impact on cash flow but, by having enough machine capacity, a short payback period is expected. 

For further information call:

Stephen Fletcher

Company Secretary

Coral Products PLC

01942 272882