EMBARGOED UNTIL: 0700 HOURS 30 APRIL 2008
CHAIRMAN'S AGM AND INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
30 APRIL2008
Bodycote is issuing its first interim management statement covering the period
from 1 January 2008 to 30 April 2008 to coincide with the company's 55th Annual
General Meeting
Trading
Based on actual performance to the end of March and our expectations for April,
sales growth (at actual exchange rates) for the year to date is about 18% with
approximately 6% from organic improvement, 5% from acquisitions and 7% as a
result of currency translation. All of the Group's major markets remain firm
with the exception of the anticipated softness in North American automotive.
Operating margins and cash flow are in line with the Board's expectations.
The Group has spent £25.7m on seven acquisitions in the year to date of which
four are in Thermal Processing, with facilities in the UK, USA and Thailand and
three in Testing, with laboratories in Eire, France and Canada.
Outlook
Demand in the Group's key aerospace, power generation and oil & gas sectors
continues to be buoyant. Automotive business remains satisfactory in Europe and
soft in North America. Sales growth in both Eastern Europe and the Middle East
is strong and is expected to remain so and our nascent businesses in Asia are
meeting the Board's expectations.
The Board is confident that the Group will make further progress towards its
performance objectives in the remainder of the year.
Corporate Development
The Board has undertaken an in-depth strategic review of both the Group's
Thermal Processing and Testing Strategic Business Units (SBU). It has carefully
considered the findings and concluded that substantial shareholder value should
be unlocked both through a successful sale of the entire Testing SBU and by
focusing on the wide ranging opportunities for further development of the
Thermal Processing SBU.
Accordingly the Board has appointed advisors to assist in the possible sale of
the Testing SBU and expects formally to contact potential purchasers shortly.
The Board believes that there are significant opportunities for the Group's
Thermal Processing SBU to replace the profit stream of the Testing SBU. The
Board continues to pursue its strategy of increasing revenues through
outsourcing, by widening the geographic spread of the Group in emerging markets
and by pursuing selected earnings enhancing acquisitions..
Should this initiative result in a sale of the Testing SBU, and generate
substantial shareholder value, then at the time of seeking approval for the
transaction the Board will indicate how net proceeds might be utilised,
including the potential for capital return.
J A S Wallace
Chairman
Valediction
After the close of the Annual General Meeting today James Wallace will step
down as chairman and be succeeded by Alan Thomson, who was appointed as
director and deputy chairman in December 2007. The Board wishes to express its
sincere gratitude to James for his significant contribution to Bodycote over
his many years of service.
The Interim Results will be announced in August 2008.
Conference Call
John Hubbard and David Landless will be hosting a conference call for analysts
and investors at 08.30 hours today (30 April). A copy of the presentation to be
made at today's AGM will be made available on the Bodycote website later this
morning.
Dial in number: +44 (0) 1452 542 304
Call reference Number: 45718143
Bodycote International PLC Financial Dynamics
Tel +44 (0) 1625 505300 Tel: +44 (0) 207 831 3113
John D. Hubbard, Chief Executive Jon Simmons
David Landless, Finance Director
The Interim Management Statement, issued in accordance with the EU Disclosure
and Transparency Directive, may contain forward-looking statements which:
* have been made by the directors in good faith based on the information
available to them up to the time of their approval of this statement; and
* should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, which are
beyond Board's ability to control or estimate precisely and include both
economic and business risk factors, underlying such forward looking
information.
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.