Trading Statement

27 Jul 2009 07:00



Inditherm plc (the "Company")

Trading Statement 

In the 2008 Results (issued in March 2009), the Company noted that it anticipated the same rate of growth in the Medical sector being achieved in 2009 as in 2008 and that the Company would be able to grow sales in the Industrial and Construction sectors during the year ahead, dependant on the conversion of a number of significant Industrial prospects.

The Medical sector is continuing to grow in 2009 but, in the face of recessionary conditions, at a slower rate than anticipated. Medical orders in the first half of 2009 were up 5%. We have been actively adapting our approach to ensure that the cost-saving benefit to our customers is being given greater emphasis. We now offer our customers payment options which will enable them to achieve immediate cost savings. Hitherto the customer has been required to justify payback for a capital purchase to change from existing disposable products. We hope, through this approach, to accelerate our Medical sales in the second half of this year, notwithstanding the difficult times that our customers are experiencing.

In the Industrial sector it is clear that the recession is now delaying decision making processes longer than was expected, however we have not seen significant cancellation of the key projects we are working on. We are focusing on the sectors where we can offer standardised products and gain repeat business. There are a number of significant prospects in this division, for which we hope to achieve successful conversion over the next six months. 

The Board has been taking action in response to these market conditions and is currently in consultation with employees to reduce headcount by approximately 20%. In addition, our resources are being refocused towards the Medical sector.

The company currently has some £2.6m of cash in hand and is still expecting to be able to achieve profitability within the confines of our existing cash resources, albeit now over a longer timeframe than previously expected.

In the Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2009, which are due to be released on the 24th September 2009, the Company expects to report that turnover (excluding the one-off benefit of the sale of start up stock for Smith's Medical in the first half of 2008) was down approximately 30%.

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