4imprint Group PLC
10 June 2003
Press Release 10 June 2003
4imprint Group plc - Update on AIA Operation
The Company announced on 13 March 2003 that a review of the AIA franchise
operation during 2002 had resulted in fundamental changes to the control systems
which successfully stabilised AIA, stemmed cash outflows, initiated the removal
of non-compliant franchise owners and improved the quality of owners
subsequently recruited.
The Company also announced the appointment of David Woods as AIA's new CEO in
February 2003 and he has continued the commercial review of AIA's strategy and
the remaining owners. To ensure the profitable development of AIA, the Board
has today committed to the restructuring and relocation of AIA to Oshkosh in
Wisconsin following the planned closure of the Boston office in Q4 of the
current year. This will involve the removal of a total of approximately 200
under-performing owners from the system and will allow AIA to focus on its
remaining 400 or so larger franchisees. The conversion of these owners onto the
proven OASIS operating software system, which is almost complete, has allowed
significant efficiency savings and further control improvements. The
under-performing franchisees that have been or will be removed as part of this
change represent less than 10% of AIA's service fee income.
There will therefore be additional costs in 2003, the majority being one-off
cash costs, of approximately £1.3m to complete the restructuring and manage the
resultant changes and debtor collection process. Removal of the under-performing
owners will also reduce annualised service fee income by £0.5m. However the
annualised cost savings from 2004 are in excess of £1.0m. The restructuring and
efficiency improvements will lead to a headcount reduction of approximately 30
out of the current 90 staff and will be completed by December 2003.
Although underlying results for the Group in the seasonally quieter first half
of the year are likely to be below expectations, trading in the Company's other
businesses is broadly satisfactory and in line with market expectations for the
full year.
- Ends -
For further information, please contact:
4imprint Group plc
Dick Nelson, CEO Tel: +001 (920) 236 7270
Email: dnelson@4imprint.com
Media enquiries:
Bankside
Henry Harrison-Topham / Russell Elliott Tel: +44 (0) 20 7444 4140
Email: russell.elliott@bankside.com www.bankside.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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