Investors

Press Release

Preliminary Results - Part 1

March 11, 2008 at 12:00 AM EDT
RNS Number:7912P 
Computacenter PLC 
11 March 2008 
 
 
                                   COMPUTACENTER PLC 
 
                          Preliminary Results Announcement 
 
Computacenter plc, the European IT infrastructure services provider, today 
announces preliminary results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2007. 
 
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS 
 
Financial performance 
 
  - Group revenues up 4.8% to £2.38 billion (2006: £2.27 billion) 
  - Adjusted* profit before tax up 12.3% to £42.7 million (2006: £38.0 
    million) 
  - Adjusted* diluted earnings per share up 34.1% to 18.5p (2006: 13.8p) 
  - Final dividend of 5.5p per share, total dividend 8.0p (2006: 7.5p) 
  - Net borrowings before customer-specific financing of £16.2 million 
    (2006: net funds of £29.4 million) 
 
Statutory performance 
 
  - Profit before tax up 27.7% to £42.1 million (2006: £32.9 million) 
  - Diluted earnings per share up 67.0% to 18.2p (2006: 10.9p) 
  - Net borrowings of £79.8 million (2006: net funds of £10.8 million) 
 
OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS 
 
  - First Group revenue growth since 2003 
  - UK business enters 2008 with a record contract base and a strong pipeline 
    of new business across market sectors 
  - Best ever performance from Computacenter Germany since acquisition with 
    growth across both product and services 
  - Significant progress achieved in France driven by key management 
    initiatives 
 
 
Mike Norris, Chief Executive of Computacenter plc, commented: 
 
"Computacenter made encouraging progress across the Group in 2007. The strong 
performance in the UK in the second half of the year and the gains made 
throughout the course of 2007 in Germany and France, allow us to look to the 
future with confidence. 
 
"We have for some years been pursuing a strategy of strengthening our services 
capabilities, restructuring the cost base of our product supply business, 
increasing our mid-market penetration, and upgrading our sales capabilities. We 
believe that we have made, and are continuing to make, strong progress in all of 
these areas." 
 
* Adjusted for exceptional items and amortisation of acquired intangibles. 
 
 
 
For further information, please contact: 
 
Computacenter plc. 
Mike Norris, Chief Executive                                      01707 631 601 
Tessa Freeman, Investor Relations                                 01707 631 514 
www.computacenter.com 
 
Tulchan Communications                                            020 7353 4200 
Stephen Malthouse 
www.tulchangroup.com 
 
High resolution images are available for the media to view and download free of  
charge from www.vismedia.co.uk 
 
 
BUSINESS REVIEW 
 
Executive summary 
 
There were many encouraging aspects to Computacenter's performance in 2007. Most 
significantly, the Group delivered a 34.1% increase in adjusted* diluted 
earnings per share (adjusted* EPS) to 18.5p (2006: 13.8p). This was underpinned 
by a strong underlying improvement in adjusted* profit before tax, up 12.3% to 
£42.7 million (2006: £38.0 million). The main contributors to profit growth were 
our European operations and Germany in particular. Overall Group sales increased 
4.8% to £2.38 billion (2006: £2.27 billion). Even allowing for the modest impact 
of acquisitions, this is the first time in several years that Computacenter has 
achieved revenue growth, and reflects the success that we are having in multiple 
market sectors. 
 
On a statutory basis, Group profit before tax increased 27.7% to £42.1 million 
(2006: £32.9 million) and diluted earnings per share grew 67.0% to 18.2p (2006: 
10.9p). 
 
Efficient use of capital is central to our strategy of delivering shareholder 
value. It was with this in mind that we returned £74 million of cash to 
shareholders in 2006 and, more recently, have begun to use the strength of our 
balance sheet to purchase shares in the market for subsequent cancellation. This 
programme began in November and by year-end, 1.5 million shares, representing 
0.9% of the issued share capital, had been purchased for this purpose. This was 
in addition to the purchase of 4.3 million shares by the Computacenter Employee 
Share Ownership Plan to satisfy awards made under the Group's share schemes. The 
repurchase programme has continued into 2008 and as at 10 March a further 3.5 
million shares had been purchased. 
 
The strong balance sheet continues to serve Computacenter well. At year-end, net 
borrowings prior to customer-specific financing were £16.2 million, after cash 
acquisition expenses during the year of £32.6 million and £11.3 million spent on 
share purchases. The Board is pleased to recommend a final dividend of 5.5p per 
share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 8.0p (2006: 7.5p). The 
increased dividend is consistent with our stated policy of maintaining the level 
of dividend cover within the target range of 2 - 2.5x. The dividend will be paid 
on 12 June 2008 to shareholders on the register as at 16 May 2008. 
 
Our performance in Germany, after a lacklustre 2006, was the highlight of the 
year. Adjusted* operating profit grew substantially, from £2.6 million in 2006 
to £10.4 million, partly due to a substantial reduction in losses associated 
with two shared datacentre services contracts announced last year and partly due 
to underlying improvements in the business. This is a record performance for 
Computacenter Germany. Undoubtedly we were assisted by stronger market 
conditions, but this should in no way detract from the achievements of the 
German management team, who have been particularly successful in extending our 
penetration of the datacentre and networking markets. There is still scope to 
improve the service margins in our German business and the prospects for further 
growth are encouraging. 
 
The French performance also improved strongly in 2007, with operating losses 
reducing to £1.8 million (2006: £6.5 million, prior to £5.0 million of 
exceptional charges). Computacenter France remains heavily dependent upon 
traditional lines of business, and in particular, the reselling of desktop and 
laptop systems. Nonetheless, our efforts to increase the services component of 
the business mix there are bearing fruit, with services share of revenue growing 
from 11.1% in 2006 to 12.8% in 2007. The management team in France has been 
strengthened considerably in recent years and the benefits of this are 
increasingly evident. We expect the performance of Computacenter France to 
continue to improve, although the business remains heavily dependent on a small 
number of key contracts and further effort is needed to broaden the customer 
base. 
 
There is also encouragement to be derived from the UK performance. Whilst 
adjusted* operating profit decreased to £33.1 million (2006: £37.4 million), 
this conceals some significant underlying improvements. Second half performance 
was considerably better than the first half and also ahead of the comparable 
period in 2006. This arises from the fact that we achieved substantial services 
contract base growth during the second half of the year, enabling us to recover 
from the 2006 contract losses and to enter 2008 with a considerably stronger 
pipeline of business. 
 
Our strategy in the UK has led us to focus increasingly on datacentre 
opportunities, and we made useful further progress here in 2007. The acquisition 
of Digica was intended to accelerate this development and this business is 
performing well. In 2007, sales of personal systems accounted for only 31% of 
our UK revenues, down from over 40% in 2004, demonstrating just how much 
progress Computacenter has made in shifting its business mix towards the 
less-commoditised end of the market. 
 
As stated previously, it is not possible to draw any meaningful conclusions 
about current trading until the first quarter has been completed. Like many 
companies we are concerned that the current credit crisis will have a negative 
effect on market conditions, however to date there is no obvious sign of this 
materialising. The strong performance in the UK in the second half of last year 
and the gains made throughout the course of 2007 in Germany and France, allow us 
to look to the future with confidence. We have for some years been pursuing a 
strategy of strengthening our services capabilities, restructuring the cost base 
of our product supply business, increasing our mid-market penetration, and 
upgrading our sales capabilities. We believe that we have made, and are 
continuing to make, strong progress in all of these areas. 
 
Due to his new commitment at Northern Rock, Ron Sandler resigned as 
Non-Executive Chairman and from the Computacenter Board on 18 February 2008. A 
search to find a permanent replacement led by our senior independent 
Non-Executive Director Cliff Preddy is currently in progress. 
 
We would like to thank Ron Sandler for his contribution to Computacenter and 
wish him every success. 
 
As ever, the credit for the company's performance belongs to the staff. Their 
commitment and hard work throughout the year has been exemplary, and we offer 
them our wholehearted thanks. 
 
* Adjusted for exceptional items and amortisation of acquired intangibles. 
Adjusted operating profit is stated after charging costs on customer-specific 
financing. 
 
 
Operating statement 
 
Group strategic performance 
 
In 2007, Computacenter made further progress in each of the five strategic 
initiatives aimed at ensuring long-term earnings growth. 
 
Accelerating the growth of our contractual services businesses 
 
Our contract base, comprising contract terms typically of five years, is our 
most predictable source of revenue and profit. Excluding acquisitions, the 
Group's contract base grew a pleasing 15% year on year at constant exchange 
rates, with particularly strong UK growth in the second half of the year 
resulting in a full recovery from that operation's contract losses of 2006. A 
number of high-value long-term contracts were secured, including a new Group 
contract with BT, under which Computacenter takes responsibility for fulfilment, 
support and related services for BT's 112,000 global desktops across 54 
countries. This is the largest services contract negotiated by Computacenter to 
date. 
 
Broadening the range and depth of our services activities 
 
Across the Group, we endeavoured to enhance our capability in those areas which 
command higher margins and where specialist expertise is in high demand. In 
particular, Computacenter sought to extend its capability and its market 
penetration in the enterprise service areas of networking and datacentre hosting 
and support. To that end, two significant developments in 2007 were the 
acquisition of Digica, a datacentre hosting and support company, and Allnet, a 
network integration and cabling company. Together, these acquisitions have added 
£23 million to the Group's contract base. 
 
Extending our presence in growth markets, and in particular the medium-sized 
business segment. 
 
At the smaller-scale end of our client base, our push into the growing 
mid-market continued, particularly in the UK, where we invested an additional £4 
million through the 2007 income statement, mainly in recruitment of new sales 
staff. We are gradually building a presence in this market, with approximately 
1,000 new customers trading with us in 2007, and look forward to the return on 
this investment in coming years. In addition, our investment in the growing 
market for datacentre services yielded a number of important new managed 
services contracts and led to increased utilisation of our professional services 
staff, lowering operating costs. 
 
Improving the efficiency of our operations by deploying shared services 
facilities across our customer base. 
 
We continued to focus on reducing operational costs and improving customer 
service through the more effective use of shared resources and tools for service 
delivery. In the UK we have established the Shared Services Factory (SSF), a 
standard set of tools, facilities and processes that ensures we deliver services 
that consistently meet customer requirements at low cost. One component of the 
SSF is our new purpose-built International Service Centre in Barcelona. Progress 
is being made with similar shared resource initiatives in Germany. 
 
Improving our competitiveness by reducing the cost of sale in our product supply 
business. 
 
We continued to implement improved business controls relating to product 
purchasing and supply and to invest in our e-commerce systems in order to 
streamline the supply business and reduce operating costs. 
 
UK 
 
UK revenues grew by 5.9% to £1.36 billion (2006: £1.28 billion), driven by 
strong sales in the datacentre services arena and an improvement in product 
revenues. Adjusted* operating profit declined 11.6% to £33.1 million (2006: 
£37.4 million), partly due to the 2006 contract losses previously reported and 
the renegotiation of our relationship with BT. 
 
Services revenues, excluding the effect of acquisitions, declined 3.5%, with 
professional services growth partially compensating for a decline in contractual 
revenues. However, a strong H2 recovery in the UK services contract base 
resulted in a small contract base increase for the year as a whole, which 
translates to an 8.5% increase in the year when taking account of product supply 
embedded within services contracts. We therefore enter 2008 with a business 
pipeline that more than compensates for the losses of 2006. 
 
During the year, we began to see the results of our strategic initiative aimed 
at greater use of shared service facilities, tools and processes. Customers are 
increasingly choosing to broaden their relationship with Computacenter due to 
our ability to make cost and service commitments based on the use of repeatable 
processes and embedded best practice. Our investment in this area led to us 
achieving BSI certified accreditation to the ISO/IEC20000 standard for our 
centralised Service Desks, including the integrated operations of our Digica 
acquisition. 
 
This shared services approach helped secure a number of managed services 
contracts. These include a five-year contract with Marks and Spencer worth 
approximately £19 million in service revenues and covering product supply and 
software licensing, the management of all infrastructure moves and changes, 
desktop and server support, managed security, asset management and technology 
disposals. 
 
We enjoyed particular success in datacentre services. The strong performance in 
this area reported in the first half continued through the rest of the year and 
was a key driver of a 19% year-on-year increase, excluding the effect of 
acquisitions, in professional services revenues. Our server virtualisation and 
consolidation solutions were in particular demand due to the benefits of reduced 
costs and increased manageability, as well as related environmental benefits, 
which include a significantly reduced power consumption and carbon footprint. 
Indeed we won a Supplier Innovation Award from BT for our work on virtualising 
and consolidating a number of their UK datacentres, through which we cut their 
power consumption by 5,000KW and their carbon footprint by 85%, as well as 
reducing their operational expenditure considerably. 
 
In the managed datacentre segment we saw some recovery following a disappointing 
start to the year. Our managed datacentre and hosting business, Digica, acquired 
in January, performed well in H2, with revenue growth of 11.1% over H1 and an 
improved operating profit ahead of expectations. 
 
Our datacentre services were in particular demand in the financial services and 
telecoms sectors. An important technology solutions win was with Norwich Union, 
where we worked with the customer to consolidate and virtualise its environment 
at two datacentres, as well as deploying a new server operating system and 
hardware. The project has helped simplify IT management and reduce server 
provisioning time from six weeks to less than one. We also secured a contract 
with a major financial organisation for a UNIX server architecture redesign and 
infrastructure replacement, enabling the customer to expedite its deployment of 
new customer products and so reduce time to market. 
 
The acquisition of Allnet in April, a leading provider of network integration 
and structured cabling services, has doubled the size of our business in this 
sector and we believe will enable us to win increased market share in the 
high-growth areas of converged IP based networks and unified communications 
projects. 
 
The success of our continuing investment in our software services business led 
to 18.7% software revenue growth. In particular, we captured an increased share 
of the high value Microsoft licensing market, with our UK market share reaching 
a record 9%. A significant win was with a major bank, for which we will be 
providing managed procurement and software licence management services. Looking 
forward, we expect to see further growth and increased return from our software 
business. 
 
Growth in technology solutions projects was a significant driver of related 
product sales, where we saw 4.0% growth in sales of networking, server and 
storage technology. Sales of personal systems remained broadly flat. 
 
There were indications of customers turning away from purchasing direct from 
vendors in favour of vendor-independent services and solutions providers such as 
ourselves. Whilst we welcome this as beneficial to organisations looking for 
long-term value and service flexibility from their IT partner, it is still too 
early to say whether this indicates a long-term trend. 
 
Our continuing success in implementing improved business controls relating to 
product purchasing and supply contributed towards an increase in product gross 
margins from end-user sales. We also continued to lower the cost of sale through 
use of a lighter-touch sales model for product-only clients, enabled through our 
deployment of improved e-commerce systems. 
 
Significant product supply wins include technology benchmarking and desktop 
supply for Leeds City Council, which also includes disposals management via RDC. 
In addition, we secured a nationwide technology refresh contract with 
construction company Morgan Sindall, covering supply, asseting, configuration 
and installation services. 
 
Our remarketing and recycling arm, RDC, had a good year with a strong finish. 
Increased business interest in environmental services contributed towards a 
three-fold growth in profits, driven by a 22% increase in service revenues and 
36% growth in remarketing revenues. 
 
Continuing the trend of recent years, our UK trade distribution arm, CCD, which 
operates in a particularly competitive market, saw sales decline 6.7%. However 
our focus on margin generation continues to bear fruit, leading to an increase 
in gross profit. 
 
The UK business enters 2008 with a record services contract base and a strong 
pipeline of new business. This provides a firm foundation on which to build 
revenue and profit growth in 2008 and beyond. 
 
Germany 
 
Computacenter Germany enjoyed strong growth, with revenues increasing 8.2% to 
£708.6 million (2006: £654.7 million). More significantly, adjusted* operating 
profit grew markedly to £10.4 million (2006: £2.6 million), albeit aided by a 
substantial reduction in the losses from the two shared datacentre services 
contracts. This is, by some distance, the best profit performance since 
Computacenter acquired the CompuNet business from GE at the beginning of 2003. 
 
Revenue growth was across the German business. Services revenues increased by 
13.1% and product revenues by 5.8%. This meant our business mix was broadly 
unchanged, with around 35% of our revenues coming from services, and 65% from 
products. 
 
Growth came from the return on the significant investment we have made in 
services and solutions over the last few years, particularly on developing our 
managed services and consulting businesses. Our managed services contract base 
grew by 22.8% in local currency, including contracts with embedded product 
supply, and our professional services revenues grew 9.5%, resulting in a very 
pleasing 39.7% revenue growth over just two years. Networking and datacentre 
growth also helped boost product sales through the related supply of servers and 
other enterprise products. 
 
In addition, we are seeing the benefits of a significant restructure of our 
sales organisation, which has led to a more diversified customer base and 
enabled us to grow business in the medium-sized enterprise sector. 
 
An upturn in the German IT market, driven by general economic factors, further 
helped financial performance. In addition, we benefited from a customer trend 
away from contracting out comprehensive outsourcing deals to large enterprise 
service providers and towards the kind of selective managed services contracts 
in which we specialise. 
 
Growth was achieved with no significant impact on indirect expenses, enabling 
the additional volumes and margins to contribute directly to profit. This was 
aided by the implementation of new cost control mechanisms during 2006. 
 
We are increasingly recognised in the German services market, with IDC listing 
us as one of the country's top ten IT services providers. Significant wins 
included a three-year contract with BMW Group for the supply and maintenance of 
all network equipment in Germany and a datacentre outsourcing contract with 
Immobilienscout 24, which operates Germany's largest Internet real estate 
marketplace. We also secured a four-year managed services contract with leading 
chemicals manufacturer Solvay, in which we take responsibility for managing the 
company's desktops and Wintel servers, as well as providing helpdesk services 
across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 
 
Service margins continued to be under pressure and we began a number of 
initiatives in the first half to improve this area. As a result, we saw 
significant margin improvement towards the end of 2007 and expect these 
initiatives to bear further fruit in years to come. 
 
Our product business enjoyed growth in all areas in 2007. Performance was 
particularly strong in our security products business, which grew 23.7% and 
reflected organisations' increased concern over data security. Other major 
contributors to sales growth were our unified communications and networking 
activities. 
 
Sales of personal systems increased by 14.2%, reversing a longstanding trend of 
revenue decline in this segment, which was largely attributable to continuing 
unit price deterioration. 
 
A notable success was the award of a three-year contract for the supply of 
desktop, laptop and PDA equipment, with management of installations, moves and 
changes, to healthcare services provider B.Braun. 
 
Our remarketing and recycling arm, RDC, enjoyed sales growth and another 
profitable year in Germany, with two major wins from 2006 making a significant 
contribution to remarketing margins. The relocation of RDC's new sales and 
service delivery team at the German Operations Centre at Kerpen is expected to 
help grow RDC business in existing Computacenter accounts. 
 
We expect the economic situation in Germany to support further growth in 2008 
and are confident that the business is well placed to make further contributions 
to Group profits in years to come. 
 
France 
 
2007 saw a fundamental improvement in the performance of our French business. 
Operating loss reduced 73.0% to £1.8 million (2006: loss of £6.5 million prior 
to exceptional charges of £5.0 million). This was despite a revenue decline of 
7.0% to £285.7 million (2006: £307.3 million), due largely to a challenging 
product market. This dramatic improvement was brought about by a number of key 
management initiatives. 
 
In order to address the issues of a highly competitive product marketplace and a 
15% average price decline in product prices, we adopted a more commercially 
innovative and selective approach to the provisioning of hardware. This was 
supported by the introduction of a new reward scheme for our sales force at the 
start of the year and by a new focus on the growth of our regional business. The 
result was improved gross profit in the product business, despite the 
anticipated 8.8% fall in product revenues. 
 
A similarly selective approach in our services business, together with a 
sharpened focus on quality of service and customer satisfaction, yielded a 7.1% 
improvement in services revenues and a substantial 24.1% increase in gross 
profit. 
 
The continuing success of our maintenance services also contributed to the 
improved financial performance. Our maintenance business recorded a 19% increase 
in revenue and a substantial increase in gross profit, despite an overall French 
market for these services that shows zero growth. 
 
The cost of running the business was again managed down, with operating costs 
falling by 4.2%. 
 
The second half of 2007 saw Computacenter France record a profit for the first 
time since 2001. Significant renewals included a five-year extension of our 
global hardware and maintenance service for a leading medical services company, 
a four-year renewal of our third largest managed services contract with a major 
pharmeceuticals company and a four-year extension of our product supply contract 
with the CEA, the French Government's Atomic Research Authority. 
 
New customer wins include a four-year product supply and maintenance contract 
with the Paris Mayor's office, Marie de Paris, worth £17 million, and a 
three-year contract to provide most of the Northern French hospitals, Groupement 
Inter-Hospitalier du Nord, with services including product specification, 
installation, helpdesk and support worth up to £24 million. 
 
2007 represents a step change in the performance of our French operation. Whilst 
much remains to be done, particularly in broadening the customer base, we have 
an opportunity to build on this progress in 2008 and beyond. 
 
Benelux 
 
Our Benelux operation recorded a reduced operating loss of £44,000 (2006: loss 
of £191,000). The small loss was principally due to increased investment in the 
Luxembourg sales organisation. 
 
Product supply activities recorded an improved performance, both from 
traditional volume business as well as new enterprise solutions business. The 
profit contribution from managed services also grew significantly on the back of 
high IT resource demand, particularly in Belgium. 
 
Major wins included enterprise solutions projects at CMI, Pioneer Europe, and 
BDO Atrio in Belgium as well as a unified communications project at Luxpet in 
Luxembourg. 
 
*Operating profit is adjusted for exceptional items and amortisation of acquired 
intangibles and is stated after charging costs on customer-specific financing 
 
Adjusted operating profit 
 
Management measure the Group's operating performance using adjusted operating 
profit, which is stated prior to amortisation of acquired intangibles and 
exceptional items, and after charging finance costs on customer-specific 
financing for which the Group receives regular rental income. The table below 
shows the reconciliation between statutory and adjusted operating profit by 
geographical segment for 2007 and 2006: 
 
                                        UK   Germany    France   Benelux     Total 
                                     £'000     £'000     £'000     £'000     £'000 
                             
2007 
Operating profit                    33,957    10,942    (1,754)      (44)   43,101 
Add back 
Amortisation of acquired                
intangibles                            481       132         -         -       613 
After charging 
Finance costs on customer-specific   
financing                           (1,339)     (686)        -         -    (2,025) 
                                  --------  --------  --------  --------  -------- 
Adjusted Operating Profit           33,099    10,388    (1,754)      (44)   41,689 
                                  ========  ========  ========  ========  ======== 
                             
2006 
Operating profit                    37,470     2,788   (11,526)     (191)   28,541 
Add back 
Exceptional items                        -         -     5,031         -     5,031 
Amortisation of acquired                  
intangibles                              -        46         -         -        46 
After charging 
Finance costs on customer-specific      
financing                              (39)     (262)        -         -      (301) 
                                  --------  --------  --------  --------  -------- 
Adjusted Operating Profit           37,431     2,572    (6,495)     (191)   33,317 
                                  ========  ========  ========  ========  ======== 
 
Consolidated income statement 
For the year ended 31 December 2007 
 
                                                        2007        2006 
                                           Note        £'000       £'000 
 
Revenue                                       3    2,379,141   2,269,903 
Cost of sales                                     (2,053,333) (1,974,437) 
                                                  ----------  ---------- 
Gross profit                                         325,808     295,466 
 
Distribution costs                                   (18,344)    (19,075) 
Administrative expenses                             (263,750)   (242,773) 
                                                  ----------  ----------  
Operating profit: 
Before amortisation of acquired                       43,714      33,618 
intangibles and exceptional items 
Amortisation of acquired intangibles                    (613)        (46) 
                                                  ----------  ----------  
Operating profit before exceptional items             43,101      33,572 
Impairment of non-current assets                           -      (2,606) 
Redundancy costs                                           -      (2,425) 
                                                  ----------  ----------  
Operating profit                                      43,101      28,541 
 
Finance revenue                                        3,910       6,677 
Finance costs                                         (4,952)     (2,289) 
                                                  ----------  ----------  
Profit before tax: 
Before amortisation of acquired                       42,672      38,006 
intangibles and exceptional items 
Amortisation of acquired intangibles                    (613)        (46) 
                                                  ----------  ----------  
Profit before tax before exceptional                  42,059      37,960 
items 
Impairment of non-current assets                           -      (2,606) 
Redundancy costs                                           -      (2,425) 
                                                  ----------  ----------  
Profit before tax                                     42,059      32,929 
 
Income tax expense                            4      (13,161)    (13,994) 
                                                  ----------  ----------  
Profit for the year                                   28,898      18,935 
                                                  ----------  ----------  
Attributable to: 
Equity holders of the parent                          28,888      18,927 
Minority interests                                        10           8 
                                                  ----------  ----------  
                                                      28,898      18,935 
                                                  ----------  ----------  
 
Earnings per share                            5 
- basic for profit for the year                        18.5p       11.0p 
- diluted for profit for the year                      18.2p       10.9p 
 
 
Consolidated balance sheet 
As at 31 December 2007 
 
                                                      2007      2006 
                                            Note     £'000     £'000 
Non-current assets 
Property, plant and equipment                      116,444    84,874 
Intangible assets                                   45,185     9,945 
Deferred income tax asset                            8,190     6,166 
                                                  --------  -------- 
                                                   169,819   100,985 
                                                  --------  -------- 
Current assets 
Inventories                                        110,535    94,586 
Trade and other receivables                        454,155   427,319 
Prepayments                                         27,936    28,729 
Accrued income                                      33,445    21,706 
Forward currency contracts                               -       111 
Cash and short-term deposits                   7    29,211    77,882 
                                                  --------  -------- 
                                                   655,282   650,333 
                                                  --------  -------- 
Total assets                                       825,101   751,318 
                                                  --------  -------- 
 
Current liabilities 
Trade and other payables                           336,971   315,846 
Deferred income                                     74,686    77,714 
Financial liabilities                               74,363    55,736 
Forward currency contracts                             369         - 
Income tax payable                                   7,899     8,394 
Provisions                                           2,180     2,132 
                                                  --------  -------- 
                                                   496,468   459,822 
                                                  --------  -------- 
Non-current liabilities 
Financial liabilities                               34,652    11,362 
Provisions                                          12,225    12,839 
Other non-current liabilities                        1,685       917 
Deferred income tax liabilities                      1,875     1,249 
                                                  --------  -------- 
                                                    50,437    26,367 
                                                  --------  -------- 
Total liabilities                                  546,905   486,189 
                                                  --------  -------- 
Net assets                                         278,196   265,129 
                                                  ========  ======== 
 
Capital and reserves 
Issued capital                                       9,504     9,571 
Share premium                                        2,890     2,247 
Capital redemption reserve                          74,627    74,542 
Own shares held                                    (11,380)   (2,503) 
Foreign currency translation reserve                 1,507    (2,455) 
Retained earnings                                  201,035   183,700 
                                                  --------  -------- 
Shareholders' equity                               278,183   265,102 
Minority interest                                       13        27 
                                                  --------  -------- 
Total equity                                       278,196   265,129 
                                                  ========  ======== 
 
 
Approved by the Board on 10 March 2008 
 
 
 
 
 
MJ Norris Chief Executive                     FA Conophy Finance Director 
 
 
 
Consolidated statement of changes in equity 
For the year ended 31 December 2007 
 
 
                     Attributable to equity holders of the parent 
                           -------------------------------- 
                Issued    Share    Capital      Own     Foreign  Retained     Total Minority     Total 
               capital  premium redemption   shares    currency  earnings           interest    equity 
                                   reserve     held translation 
                                                        reserve 
                 £'000    £'000      £'000    £'000       £'000     £'000     £'000    £'000     £'000 
At 1 January      
2006             9,505   74,680        100   (2,503)     (1,757)  250,630   330,655       19   330,674 
Exchange              
differences     
on 
retranslation 
of foreign 
operations           -        -          -        -        (698)        -      (698)       -      (698) 
               -------  -------   --------   ------     -------   -------    ------   ------  -------- 
Net expenses          
recognised 
directly in 
equity               -        -          -        -        (698)        -      (698)       -      (698) 
Profit for            
the year             -        -          -        -           -    18,927    18,927        8    18,935 
               -------  -------   --------   ------     -------   -------    ------   ------  -------- 
Total                 
recognised 
income and 
expenses for 
the year             -        -          -        -        (698)   18,927    18,229        8    18,237 
Cost of               
share-based 
payment              -        -          -        -           -     1,411     1,411        -     1,411 
Exercise of         66    2,317          -        -           -         -     2,383        -     2,383 
options 
Bonus issue     74,442  (74,442)         -        -           -         -         -        -         - 
Expenses on          -     (308)         -        -           -         -      (308)       -      (308) 
bonus issue 
Share           
redemption     (74,442)       -     74,442        -           -   (73,886)  (73,886)       -   (73,886) 
Expenses on           
share                 
redemption           -        -          -        -           -       (56)      (56)       -       (56) 
Equity                
dividends            -        -          -        -           -   (13,326)  (13,326)       -   (13,326) 
               -------  -------   --------   ------     -------   -------    ------   ------  -------- 
                    66  (72,433)    74,442        -        (698)  (66,930)  (65,553)       8   (65,545) 
               -------  -------   --------   ------     -------   -------    ------   ------  -------- 
At 31            9,571    2,247     74,542   (2,503)     (2,455)  183,700   265,102       27   265,129 
December 2006  =======  =======   ========   ======     =======   =======    ======   ======  ======== 
 
More to follow, for following part double-click [nRN1K7912P] 

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