Styles & Wood Group Regulatory News (STY)

14 Jan 2010 07:00



14 January 2010

Styles & Wood Group plc

("Styles & Wood" or the "Group")

Trading Update

Styles & Wood Group plc, a leading provider of retail property services to premier UK retailers, makes the following statement on trading for the year ended 31 December 2009. 

The Group and its four divisions (StoreFit, StorePlanning, StoreCare and StoreData) have continued to trade in line with management expectations. Revenue and underlying* profit before tax for the year ended 31 December 2009 are anticipated to be in line with expectations.

The refinancing completed on 29 June 2009 has ensured that the Group has a strong balance sheet to weather the current challenging market environment. Net cash at 31 October 2009 was £6.3m which is better than was expected at the time of the refinancing, and this improvement continued through to the end of the year.

Despite the tough market conditions, the Group has continued to secure projects with key customers. Some of these projects include:

Barclays - completed work on 4 flagship branches and the refresh of more than 30 other branches

Lloyds TSB - rebranded 13 high street branches

Morrisons - undertook work on 251 cafes

Waitrose - 5 new stores handed over in 2009 

Co-op - continued rebranding of estate, converting 40 stores into new Co-op format

DW Fitness - rebranding and fit out of 4 fitness centres 

Home Retail Group - 8 new stores delivered for Argos and 6 for Homebase

The Board believes that with its robust financial position, coupled with its strong, loyal customer base, the Group is well placed to take advantage of any market upturn and maintain its market leading position. However, the markets in which the Group operates continue to remain challenging and therefore the Board maintains its cautious outlook for 2010. 

*Underlying reflects results prior to including the impact of non-recurring items and fair value accounting adjustments.

- Ends -

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