Trading Statement

1 Feb 2007 07:30

Cropper(James) PLC01 February 2007 Issued by Citigate Dewe Rogerson Ltd, BirminghamDate: Thursday, 1 February 2007 Embargoed: 7.30am James Cropper PLC TRADING STATEMENT STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN, J A CROPPER I am pleased to announce that the trading outlook for the full financial yearhas improved significantly since the Interim Results announcement issued on 21November 2006. As a consequence the Board believes that the Group's preliminaryresults for the full year ended 31 March 2007, prior to net IFRS pensionadjustments, will exceed current market forecasts. Despite the recent weakening of the US$, growth at Technical Fibre Products ("TFP") has continued. Sales by TFP in the nine-month period to 31 December 2006were some 28% higher than in the comparable period. We now expect TFP tocontinue to perform at these levels for the remainder of the financial year, andtherefore TFP's profits for the full financial year will be considerably aheadof the previous year. In my Interim Results statement I said that although James Cropper SpecialityPapers ("Speciality Papers") had traded profitably in the first half, theoverall outlook remained difficult given the uncertainties surrounding forwardquoted gas prices and the upward trend in pulp costs. Given these challengingmarket conditions, I anticipated that the profitability of Speciality Paperswould deteriorate during the course of the second half of the financial year.This statement was based upon forward market projections at the time, suggestingthat the cost of gas in the second half of the current financial year would besubstantially higher than that in the first half. I am pleased to report that,although pulp prices continue to rise, gas costs have moderated and thus myprojection appears to have been overly cautious. Speciality Papers continues totrade profitably, albeit at a lower level than in the first half of thefinancial year because of the rising cost of pulp. The recovery in James Cropper Converting continues primarily as a consequence ofrecent investment. The performance of The Paper Mill Shop over the vital pre-Christmas period wasdisappointing and, as I anticipated in my Interim Results statement, thissubsidiary will incur a loss in the full year. The impact of the recent weakening of the US$ and • against £Sterling isexpected to have a broadly neutral effect on the Group overall as a consequenceof our internal currency hedging policy. The Group's Preliminary Results for the year to 31 March 2007 are expected to beannounced on Tuesday 19 June 2007. Enquiries:Alun Lewis, Chief ExecutiveJohn Denman, Group Finance Director Katie Dale, Senior Account ManagerJames Cropper PLC Citigate Dewe RogersonTelephone: 01539 722002 Telephone: 0121 455 8370www.cropper.com Mobile: 07770 778 624 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange