Samuel Heath Regulatory News (HSM)

7 Jul 2005 07:00

Heath(Samuel) & Sons PLC07 July 2005 SAMUEL HEATH & SONS PLC PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2005 CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT It has never been my intention in my statements to be deliberately pessimistic,and then for the Company to produce results better than forecast. Therefore, it is with an apology, as well it must be confessed some pleasure,that I have to announce results much better than we could have possibly foreseenup to the last two months of the trading period to March 31st 2005. Although in all other areas of the business turnover fell as per our budget, ourrange of "invisible" door closers bucked the trend and showed a very strongfinish at the end of the year. Profit before tax was £933,000, before a special extra payment to our pensionfunds of £250,000. This extremely satisfactory profit could not have beenachieved without some very painful cuts being administered right through theCompany, as you will notice that our sales are in fact down to £11,375,000 from£12,131,000. The reasons for the fall in sales in most departments are the usual ones -enormous quantities of cheaper imports and difficult trading in the U.S.A., bothmade a great deal worse by the weakness of the Dollar. Europe was by no meansany easier, with some countries experiencing particularly difficult tradingconditions. The Group continues to have a strong balance sheet, and your Directors believethat a purchase of the Company's shares at the right price level could benefitthe Company, and thereby its shareholders. Accordingly, your Directors areseeking your approval for the purchase of up to 15% of the issued share capital,382,023 shares, between Annual General Meetings. During the last year theCompany did not buy any shares. For the coming year, we now have every sign from our order book of aconsiderable slow down in the U.K. market, without any of the others showing animprovement. I have therefore little choice in repeating my caution of lastyear. If there were to be a similar drop in sales over all our product ranges, therewould be no more room for the type of savings which produced last year'srespectable profit. If such an exercise was attempted, it would harm the futureprospects of the Company which, because of the introduction of new products, westill feel are exciting. Sam Heath Chairman 7 July 2005 PROFIT & LOSS ACCOUNT Year ended Year ended 31 March 2005 31 March 2004 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Turnover 11,375 12,131 ====== ======Profit on ordinary activities beforetaxation 933 852 Exceptional pension payment (250) - ------- ------- 683 852Taxation Corporation Tax based thereon 165 200 Deferred Taxation (19) 146 (61) 139 ------- ------- ------- -------Profit For The Financial Year 537 713 Dividends Interim 128 128 Final 216 344 216 344 ------- ------- ------- -------Added to Reserves 193 369 ====== ======Dividend per share 13.5 pence 13.5 pence Earnings per share 21.1 pence 28.0 pence Notes: 1 Earnings per share are derived from the profit after taxation, £537,000 (2004 : £713,000) related to 2,546,818 Ordinary Shares, being the average number in issue during the financial year (2004 : 2,546,888) 2 The Annual General Meeting has been fixed for Friday 19th August 2005 at 12.00 noon. The Final Ordinary Share dividend of 8.5 pence will be declared payable on Friday 26th August 2005 to ordinary shareholders registered at the close of business on Friday 29th July 2005. END This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange