Northamber Regulatory News (NAR)

30 Apr 2009 07:00



Northamber Plc

Interim Management Statement - 3rd Quarter to 31 March 2009

At the time of the interims results in February, against a very dismal economic backdrop, I necessarily  reported a significant decline in turnover for the first half of the year. I also warned that it would be inappropriate to be optimistic for the near future.  That degree of pessimism was not unwarranted within the UK economy and given the somewhat discretionary expenditure nature of our product and service  offerings.  

We have seen a continuation of the shortfall in turnover compared with the previous year, albeit the rate of decline was somewhat less in our 3rd quarter, than for the previous quarter

Our policy over recent years of concentrating and seeking to enhance the more profitable aspects of our business resulted in our margins increasing slightly, compared with the same period in the previous year.  However, in line with the economic damage the support levels available from vendors was not as good and declined again during the third quarter when compared with last year.

With our very high level of working capital, the current turmoil has also required and enabled a review of our product offerings and vendor strategy, and with that a higher level of focus on those of our more supportive suppliers

Our cost management again showed further savings over the previous year.  Despite the loss of a very  high level of investment income on our cash, the resultant pre tax loss for the year to date was contained to 0.3% of sales.  In the current climate, whilst creditor and debtor days have slightly extended, I consider this result to be a commendable achievement by your management team.

We continue to be cash positive which we now seek to provide us with tangible advantages in trading negotiations. At the end of March our cash balance was £13.2 million compared with £13.3 million at the year end and £11.0 million at 31 March 2008.

30 April 2009

For further information, contact:

Northamber Plc David Phillips 020 8296 7000

Charles Stanley Securities Philip Davies 020 7149 6000