15 May 2014 12:00
PITTARDS PLC
(AIM: PTD)
Annual General Meeting
At the Company's Annual General Meeting, held today at 12 noon, Stephen Boyd, Chairman, made the following statement:
The weak dollar to which we referred in our Chairman's Statement in March continues to adversely affect the business and will result in a lower first half profit than last year. However, our order book has increased over recent months in all parts of the business and sales volumes are accordingly expected to steadily improve during the year. Skin prices have settled at a slightly better level than in 2013, though hide prices remain firm, therefore we anticipate a stronger second half result. We are taking all appropriate measures to control costs and mitigate the dollar impact.
We remain committed to our strategy to increase our activities offshore and increase the proportion of finished product manufacture as we believe that long term this will reduce our dollar dependency.
Contacts:
Pittards plc www.pittards.com
Stephen Boyd, Chairman +44 (0) 1935 474 321
Reg Hankey, Chief Executive +44 (0) 1935 474 321
Jill Williams, Finance Director +44 (0) 1935 474 321
WH Ireland Limited www.wh-ireland.co.uk
John Wakefield +44 (0) 117 945 3470