Marshalls Regulatory News (MSLH)

4 Jan 2005 14:01

Marshalls PLC04 January 2005 Marshalls plc Trading Statement Twelve Months to 31 December 2004 Sales in the twelve months to 31 December 2004 were £361 million, 3 per centahead of last year. The Group expects profit before tax to be in line withmarket expectations, before reorganisation costs of £1.5 million. GROUP OVERVIEW Underlying demand for Group products in both the Domestic and Public Sector andCommercial markets in the period remained robust. The latest survey of DomesticInstaller order books shows average outstanding orders of 10.2 weeks (comparedto 10.0 weeks a year ago) and the volume of Public Sector and Commercialenquiries and orders remain good. However, outdoor working conditions in thesecond half of the year were significantly worse than the very strong comparableperiod in 2003. Consequently, like for like sales in the second half were at asimilar level to the previous year. Acquisitions in the year delivered sales of £9 million. LANDSCAPE PRODUCTS DIVISION The Division achieved sales of £297 million, 3 per cent ahead of 2003. Thebusiness has continued to invest in marketing, new product development andmanufacturing innovation to drive future sales growth. The shortfall in salesin October, together with new opportunities to improve profitability, led toaction being taken to reduce production levels and fixed costs. NATURAL STONE DIVISION Headline sales of £30 million for the full year were 4 per cent ahead of lastyear. 2004 represented a year of consolidation following the strong growthachieved in 2003 when the Division benefited from a number of major contracts. CLAY PRODUCTS DIVISION The Division achieved sales of £34 million, an increase of 6 per cent on theprevious year. The refocusing of the business that commenced in 2003 iscomplete. The operating performance of this business continued to improve.Marshalls announced today that it has completed the sale of this Division. INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL REPORTING STANDARDS ("IFRS") The Group is well prepared for the introduction of IFRS from January 2005.Details of the impact of IFRS will be provided with the preliminary announcementof results for 2004 in March. CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S COMMENT Graham Holden, Chief Executive said "It is pleasing to have achieved salesgrowth in a year when wet outdoor working conditions hampered the efforts of theinstallers of our products. We continue to invest heavily in marketing and in new products to drive futuresales. We will shortly launch two new product ranges for the domestic patiomarket and have recently launched ranges of street furniture specificallydesigned for the transport and education sectors. In a separate statement earlier today we announced that we have completed thesale of our Clay Products Division for £65 million. The Group which comprises strong, focused and complementary businesses is ingood shape. The past investment in capital equipment combined with the actionwe are taking in our relentless drive to lower operating costs, together withour marketing and development programmes enable us to look to the futurewith confidence. The preliminary results of the Group will be announced on Friday 11 March 2005. Enquiries: Graham Holden Chief Executive Marshalls plc 01484 438900Ian Burrell Finance Director Marshalls plc 01484 438900 Jon Coles Brunswick Group 0207 404 5959Sarah Tovey Brunswick Group 0207 404 5959 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange