Mcbride Regulatory News (MCB)

McBride PLC

Pre-close Trading Statement

McBride PLC, Europe's leading provider of private label household and personal care products, today provides an update on trading for the year ended 30 June 2010 prior to entering its closed period.

The Board expects to report operating profits for the year in line with its expectations.

The Group anticipates reporting full-year revenue growth, on a constant currency basis, to be flat following a fourth quarter that is expected to be 3% lower than prior year. This reflects ongoing branded promotional activity in UK combined with weak retail sales across Europe.

The Group is seeing prices for key raw materials increasing by 4% by the end of June compared with December 2009. We believe our markets will remain volatile and there remains a significant risk that our material costs will rise by a further 4-6% during the next financial year. Our business model is designed to manage raw material increases effectively, although inevitably there will be a delay before recovery from customers.

Year-end net debt is expected to be in line with expectations reflecting continued strong cash flows. In addition, McBride is pleased to announce that a new five-year €175m revolving credit facility agreement has been concluded with our banks on attractive terms.

As part of the Group's continuing focus on driving operational efficiencies, a further re-structuring project has been initiated in UK and is expected to deliver annualised cost savings of £4m with cash expenditure of £4m. The cost of this initiative will be treated as an exceptional item, resulting in a total exceptional charge for 2009/10 in the region of £14m.

The group intends to announce its preliminary results for the year ended 30 June 2010 on 2 September 2010.

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