Pre Close Trading Statement

3 February 2014

JAMES HALSTEAD PLCPre Close Trading Statement 

James Halstead plc, the commercial flooring manufacturer and distributor, is providing the following trading update ahead of its interim results for the half-year to 31 December 2013.In his AGM trading update, on 6 December 2013, Mr. Geoffrey Halstead noted that he was pleased to be able to report growth in turnover, albeit modest, both in the UK and in our overseas markets. Central Europe and in particular France were continuing to grow with Australia and New Zealand on a par with last year.

However, Mr. Halstead did also give a word of caution that December is always an unpredictable month, and in the event December was not a good month with many of our major markets trading below the same month the previous year against a trend of consistent positive results. Nevertheless, revenue for the 6 months to December 2013 was 2% ahead of the previous year. Taking the above into consideration it is expected that profit before tax will be in line with forecasts and around 3-4% below the record prior year interim profit. 

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