| LONDON
(Thomson Financial) - Findel PLC, the home shopping
and educational supplies business, has reported
an expected 10 pct increase in full year underlying
pretax profit and said it plans to announce the
outcome of its long awaited strategic review at
the end of the summer.
'The
last six months have been extremely busy both
corporately and operationally and have delayed
a final decision on the future corporate structure
of the group,' it said.
'However,
we are now sufficiently advanced in dealing
with the integration
of
our acquisitions to be able to focus on this
question and expect to conclude
the
review by the end of this summer.'
Analysts
think the review could lead to a demerger.
For
the year to March 31 2007 the group made an
underlying pretax profit of 56.0 mln stg. This
compares with analyst forecasts of 54.9-56.0
mln stg and 50.7 mln stg in the prior year.
Full
year sales rose 11 pct to 587 mln stg. Reported
pretax profit fell to 17.5 mln stg from 35.1
mln stg.
The
group said the home shopping division delivered
on its strategy to develop a cash with order
business to strengthen its core credit business.
Home
shopping internet sales in the credit business
are now over 30 pct and are forecast to be 50
pct of divisional sales in the current year.
The
division also made several strategic acquisitions
-- Letterbox, Kitbag.com, Confetti, I Want One
of Those.com (IWOOT), Kleeneze
and The Cotswold Company. An integration programme
to maximise synergies from these acquisitions
is underway.
The
educational supplies division improved service
and strengthened its customer offering in a
difficult market, while the healthcare division
successfully developed its systems, making it
well placed to take advantage of current favourable
market conditions. Both divisions also made
an acquisition.
Findel
said group sales for the first six weeks of
its new financial year are 32 pct ahead of the
same period last year, reflecting the acquisitions.
'This
year has been a strategically important period
for the group and the board is confident that
we will continue to make further progress in
the current year,' said chairman Keith Chapman.
A
final dividend of 15.6 pence, up 10 pct, is
proposed, making 19.8 pence for the year versus
18.0 pence, payable from underlying earnings
per share of 50.17 pence, up 4 pct.
Shares
in Findel closed Wednesday at 662 pence, valuing
the business at 563 mln stg.
Richard
Ratner, analyst at Seymour Pierce, is holding
his current year underlying pretax profit forecast
at 63.3 mln stg, reiterating his 'outperform'
stance.
|
