SPGH.L Regulatory News (SPGH)

15 Jan 2010 07:00



Superglass Holdings PLC

("Superglass" or "Company")

Interim Management Statement

Superglass Holdings PLC, the UK's leading independent manufacturer of glass mineral fibre insulation products will hold its Annual General Meeting later today at which the following statement will be made. This comprises the Company's Interim Management Statement for the period 1 September 2009 to 14 January 2010.

Trading in the current financial year to date has been in line with the Board's expectations and we remain confident in the outlook for the remainder of the year. 

New initiatives, such as the Superdad campaign, are beginning to bring benefits. The Company has successfully broadened its customer base by securing new business with a leading independent builders' merchant buying group and is also beginning to see the benefits of reduced energy costs. We remain highly focused on delivering efficiency improvements and reducing input costs. 

The Company has reduced net debt by a further £1.1m since its 31 August 2009 financial year end and is highly focused on cash generation, which together with strong working capital management has enabled it to operate comfortably within banking covenants.

As we anticipated in our preliminary results announcement for the year ended 31 August 2009, markets have remained challenging. The residential carbon saving market, driven by the CERT programme has continued to slow as funding from energy retailers has been restricted. The recently announced ending of direct mail out of light bulbs from 1 January 2010 will bring some benefits,  and the 20% uplift in the value of the scheme will favour insulation. It is hoped that consultation on the uplift will be completed before the forthcoming general election to encourage release of funding which we would expect to generate higher insulation volumes in the final quarter of 2010.  Outside CERT, short term demand is difficult to predict, non residential activity remains weak, but signs are positive from the new build housing sector.

ENDS

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