Pz Cussons Regulatory News (PZC)

26 Sep 2005 12:00

PZ CUSSONS PLC26 September 2005 Under embargo until 12.00am, Monday 26 September 2005 PZ Cussons Plc Chairman's Statement to Shareholders at Annual General Meeting Anthony Green, Chairman of PZ Cussons Plc, will make the following statement toshareholders at today's Annual General Meeting. "As you are aware 2005 has been another eventful year for our Group. It has alsobeen a year of considerable progress although operating profit improvement hasbeen restricted by losses in Russia of £5m. We took action during the year towithdraw from this market and we have also disposed of our loss making jointventure in China. Further to our EGM in June the exercise to restructure and simplify our sharestructure by enfranchisement of the "A" shares and the repayment of thepreference shares is now complete. Let me now turn to our markets, starting with Nigeria. There, I am very glad tosay that the political and economic environments have remained stable throughoutthe year and indeed the signs for the future appear as positive as they havedone for many years. The high price of oil is hugely benefiting Nigeria andadditionally the development of the gas resources should ensure growth in dollarrevenues throughout the year ahead. The recent debt forgiveness programme for 18billion dollars agreed with the Paris Club should provide revenues for majorinfrastructure projects which again should have a major impact on the economyand on the incomes of the people. I have previously reported on a number of major growth initiatives we have madein recent years. To drive this forward and to provide greater focus we haverestructured our Nigerian management into Strategic Business Units. Again I ampleased to advise we have achieved considerable growth in turnover andprofitability in the year and this trend has continued into the current year. I would like to make particular reference to our white goods business, HPZ,which we have established with our Chinese partners, Haier. By white goods Imean fridges, freezers and air conditioners. This business has been growing inexcess of 50% per annum. Additionally, to update you on the progress with theNutricima investment with our Irish partners, Glanbia. Our milk factory has nowbeen in production for a few months with our newly launched brand, Nunu, and theearly results of this powdered milk are very encouraging. The evaporated milkfactory should also be in production within the next few weeks. With theincreased level of investment in Nigeria and our planned growth there, ourNigerian subsidiary, which is quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, iscurrently progressing a rights issue, further details of which will be advisedin our interim results statement. Turning now to Asia, in Australia there has been a considerable improvement inoperating profitability, a trend again that has continued into this year.Trading in Indonesia and Thailand has been competitive with pressure on marginsand specific action is being taken to negate the cost increases resulting fromcurrency weakness and the impact of high oil prices. Our new Group bar soapfactory in Thailand is progressing well and on time and will be officiallyopened next week. The factory itself will achieve full operating capacity laterin 2006. In the UK, the consumer market as ever remains price competitive, withincreasing levels of promotional support necessary. Results, however, for thefirst three months are in line with expectations and our major brands havegained market share with new product launches. So, our Group has laid solid foundations for future growth particularly inNigeria, UK, Australia and Indonesia which are our major markets. Our focus remains on improving margins with increasing efforts being madethrough our programmes on factory efficiencies, global sourcing and supply chainprocesses. All of us are familiar with the impact of high oil prices and in ourcase with raw material and packaging costs these margin improvement measuresbecome increasingly important. Finally, this business like any business at the end of the day is about people.With the growth that we have planned the recruitment, training and retention oftop quality people again becomes ever more important and we are giving toppriority to specific personnel development programmes. For the current year I am delighted to advise that at the end of the firstquarter the Group operating results are in line with budget and our investmentportfolio has continued to perform strongly. We are recommending a final dividend of 26.6p per share, which, together withthe interim dividend of 8.65p means an increase of 10.2% on last year. We fully realise the significant growth opportunities that are open to us andyour management team has gained the confidence to realise these and we face thefuture with considerable optimism." For further information contact Graham Calder, Finance Director 0161 491 8000PZ Cussons Plc Terry Garrett / John Moriarty 0207 067 0700Weber Shandwick Square Mile This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange