Final Results

600 Group PLC
20 June 2002

                                                                    20 June 2002

                               THE 600 GROUP PLC

              PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE PERIOD TO 30 MARCH 2002


CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

Despite experiencing an unprecedented world-wide downturn in machine tool
demand, the Group continued its extensive product development programme, coupled
with tight cash control. As a result, we finished the year with our best-ever
product range and a very strong balance sheet.

Market conditions

The period was dominated by dramatic falls in our major markets, all of which,
for the first time for many years, were in recession at the same time. The USA
market continued to decline, showing a year-on-year reduction of some 40% and
finishing the year with order intake levels 70% below their 1998 peak. The early
signs of recovery in the UK were severely reversed and sales in the year
finished 16% down. Year-end sales were 60% below their 1997 peak, with 70% of
this reduction occurring in the last twelve months. Order intake in continental
European markets was generally depressed throughout the year.


Results

None of our businesses was immune from these exceptionally adverse conditions.
Despite success in increasing share in key markets, only our German company and
bearings operation showed increases in turnover. However, towards the end of the
year, some sectors were starting to show signs of revival.  Turnover in the
period was down from £98.0m to £80.5m.

Action continued to be taken to reduce both costs and assets in response to this
trading environment. Headcount was reduced by 26% during the year and,
consequently, underlying overhead spend in the second half was 25% below the
previous year's level.

Profit before tax (and transfer of goodwill previously written off) reduced from
£6.9m to £2.7m, reflecting a reduction in gross profit from £25.9m to £19.3m,
reorganisation costs up from £0.2m to £1m and net cost savings of £3.2m.

Profit after tax reflects the adoption of FRS 19 "Deferred Tax". The impact of
this new accounting policy was to reduce reported profit after tax for the
period by £1.6m.

Net funds reduced by £6.4m to £11.5m. The repayment and cancellation of the
preference shares accounted for £2.7m of this reduction and the total dividend
payment absorbed another £3.1m. A further £0.6m was spent on the acquisition of
the Gamet bearings business in France.


Dividend

The board recommends a final dividend of 4.0p, maintaining the full year
dividend of 5.5p.


People

On behalf of the board, I should like to record our appreciation of the
continued efforts of all our employees, which have resulted in the further
development of the Group in a very difficult trading environment and during a
period of extensive reorganisation.


Outlook

Evidence is emerging of increasing manufacturing output and improving confidence
in our major markets. Provided that these trends continue into the coming year,
investment levels should start to recover during the second half.


With our current world-wide product and market development programmes, coupled
with our strong balance sheet, I am confident that we shall maximise the
benefits from the opportunities that will arise as the major international
markets recover.





Michael Wright
Chairman
20 June 2002



Enquiries:                 Tony Sweeten, Group Chief Executive
                           John Fussey, Group Finance Director


Telephone:                 020 7796 4133 on Thursday 20 June 2002
                           thereafter on 0113 277 6100

                           Nick Lyon, Hudson Sandler


Telephone:                 020 7796 4133





GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S REVIEW OF OPERATIONS

This was an exceptionally difficult year for the machine tool industry
world-wide, with declining confidence in most of our markets, exacerbated by the
events of September 11. Demand for machine tools weakened and the competitive
position of both our UK manufacturing operations and our UK customers was
affected by the continued strength of Sterling against the Euro. The sharp
downturn in the information, communications and technology sector had a
particularly serious impact on our lasers business. Against this background, we
pursued a series of initiatives to reduce costs, lowering our headcount by 26%
and accelerating our international procurement programmes. At the same time, we
maintained our focus on product development to ensure that we have the best
possible range of machines available to our customers as their confidence
recovers.


Strategic development

Despite the harsh business climate of the last 12 months, our strategic
objectives have remained clear and consistent: maintaining our focus on machine
tools, with strong global brands and a reputation for quality and value;
sustaining our market leadership through innovation; reducing our cost base;
geographic expansion, especially into Eastern Europe and the Far East and
maintaining a strong cash balance.


Market trends

UK demand declined by some 60% between the end of 1997 and the end of 2001.
Although there was some evidence of recovery in the first quarter of calendar
2001, this faltered in the second quarter and the market remained in decline
almost to the end of our financial year. Leading indicators of business
confidence are now beginning to improve and both anecdotal evidence within the
trade and our own experience at the MACH 2002 exhibition in Birmingham suggest
that the machine tool market has now stabilised.


In Continental Europe, the run of consistent growth in the major markets ended
with a downturn beginning in the second quarter of 2001. This particularly
affected Germany, which is the largest single market.


US industrial output has fallen for 18 consecutive months, making this the
longest downturn since 1932. Total machine tool consumption has declined by more
than 70% over the last three years. Here, however, leading indicators are more
positive and we are already seeing some evidence of a pick-up in orders.



MACH 2002

This major biennial exhibition is the UK's premier machine tool event and was
held at the NEC in Birmingham between 29 April and 3 May. We took over 1,000
enquiries and, encouragingly, since we do not normally anticipate making direct
sales at trade shows, took over £1 million of orders, of which more than half
were for laser products. We also reconfirmed our strength in innovation by
winning two prestigious International Machine Tool Awards during the show, for
the new Pratt Burnerd programmable power chuck and the 'lights out' package for
600 Lathes' Tornado range.


UNITED KINGDOM OPERATIONS

600 Lathes manufactures a wide range of machines under the market-leading
Colchester and Harrison brands.

In response to the difficult market conditions, we accelerated both our product
development and international procurement programmes, resulting in a substantial
reduction in the workforce together with an extensive restructuring of the
business.

As a result of these actions, we entered the current year with an excellent
product range and a much reduced cost base. The new 3 axis Colchester Tornado
220M and 120M, along with the Harrison Alpha 330U and 330T, move us into a
larger market sector and all models have been very well received.

600 Centre, our UK marketing operation for imported machine tools, had another
good year, maintaining its strong relationships with existing principals,
including Fanuc, Mitsui Seiki and Bridgeport and securing distribution
agreements for new ranges of Danobat cylindrical grinders and CNC lathes. It
also introduced our new range of Richmond vertical machining centres into the UK
market. These machines offer substantial technical advantages over all competing
products and have had a very encouraging reception.

Crawford Collets. The company has extended its product offering with the
introduction of new ranges of collets and high quality tooling.

Gamet Bearings, manufacturing super high precision taper roller bearings for
machine tools and similar applications, benefited from the acquisition of the
bearings business of Gamet Precision in France in April 2001. The consolidation
of design and manufacturing in Colchester was achieved quickly and with minimal
disruption and resulted in a doubling of UK export sales. New ranges of ISO
metric and imperial ranges of super precision taper roller bearings were
successfully introduced, resulting in further increases in market penetration,
particularly in the Far East.

Pratt Burnerd International, the leading producer of chucking systems and
advanced electric turrets, maintained its extensive product development
programme. The new programmable power chuck, launched at MACH 2002, generated
high levels of customer interest as well as winning a major industry award. New
ranges of cylinders and self-contained pneumatic chucks were also introduced.
These include products tailored specifically for the North American market. This
outstanding new product programme provides PBI with a strong platform for growth
as demand recovers.

Electrox, our manufacturer of laser systems and markers, was seriously affected
by the downturn in the telecom and IT sectors, particularly in the USA. Action
was taken to address this challenge both by reducing headcount and other
overheads and by accelerating new product development. This has resulted in the
introduction of the new Cobra range of low cost markers, which is already
selling exceptionally well, as well as improvements to the established Scriba
marker range. Electrox also developed a new higher power laser as the platform
for the launch in the current year of an upgraded Lazerblade Plus profile
cutting machine. This generated significant levels of interest at MACH 2002.

600 Machinery International, our international trading company, was affected by
the uncertain global economic climate, particularly after September 11, which
meant that a number of expected contracts have not yet been concluded. The
current year will see a particular focus on the regeneration of business in the
Middle East, where there is evidence of improving customer interest.

600 Finance, our strategic alliance with Close Asset Finance, continued to
develop unique, innovative and flexible financing packages to facilitate sales,
especially to our smaller UK customers.


OVERSEAS OPERATIONS

Parat, our German distribution business, achieved good sales of imported Fidia
products from Italy, though the strength of Sterling restrained demand for the
Harrison lathe range. Prospects for the current year are enhanced by the launch
of new Fidia milling centres and sales of the new range of Harrison lathes and
other Group products.

600 France significantly improved its performance, following our actions to
reduce overheads and establish a more cost-effective dealership network. The
business is now stabilised with a very low cost structure and significant
potential to develop the sale of Group products.

Clausing Industrial, our North American manufacturing and distribution business,
continued to develop strong sales of standard lathes to the school and
vocational education sector despite the generally depressed market. Cost levels
were adjusted to reflect the harsh trading conditions.

Colchester CNC, established last year as a specialist distributor of our
higher-technology ranges in the USA, also suffered from falling demand.
Significant overhead cost reductions were achieved and stocks progressively
reduced during the year. Improvements were also made to the dealership network.
This has established a strong platform for the current year, in which sales are
expected to benefit from the recent launch of the Richmond range of vertical
machining centres and the introduction of the new Colchester 220M lathe.

600 Machine Tools in Canada opened new offices in Quebec and Windsor which have
already begun to generate additional sales. The company has also made a
successful entry into the educational market.

600 International, our Prague office with responsibility for co-ordinating Group
sales and procurement in Central and Eastern Europe, had a good year, with
increased turnover of lathes into Eastern Europe and the launch of the
Lazerblade product into the Czech Republic.

600 Machine Tools in Australia achieved an improvement in sales of Group
products within a declining market and plans to extend its nationwide
representation in the current year.

600SA, our operation in South Africa, improved its performance through further
rationalisation and restructuring initiatives. The weakness of the Rand remains
a constraint on sales of imported products, but the company is benefiting from
strong demand for forestry equipment and locally manufactured lines, including
truck cranes, aerial platforms and waste compactors.  These are selling well in
neighbouring countries, such as Zimbabwe and Botswana, as well as in South
Africa.


OUTLOOK

The actions that we have taken to develop our best-ever range of products and to
reduce costs throughout the business mean that we are well positioned to achieve
incremental sales at improved margins in the current year. There are early signs
of an improvement in both the US and UK economies and, as a result, most
forecasts suggest that world-wide demand for our type of products will improve
during the year, with recovery gaining momentum during the second half.
Therefore, I am confident that we shall deliver an improving underlying
performance during the coming year.



Tony Sweeten
Group Chief Executive
20 June 2002



AUDITED CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT


                                                               Period ended 30              Period ended
                                                                    March 2002              31March 2001
                                                                                            As restated*
                                                                          £000                      £000

Turnover - continuing operations                                         80,451                   97,950
Cost of sales                                                          (61,190)                 (72,064)

Gross profit                                                             19,261                   25,886
Net operating expenses                                                 (16,894)                 (19,501)

Operating profit - continuing operations                                  2,367                    6,385
Transfer of goodwill previously written off to reserves                       -                    (216)

Profit on ordinary activities before interest and taxation                2,367                    6,169
Net interest receivable and similar income                                  299                      526

Profit on ordinary activities before taxation                             2,666                    6,695
Taxation                                                                (1,210)                  (2,958)

Profit  for the financial period                                          1,456                    3,737
Dividends                                                               (3,144)                  (3,215)

Retained (loss)/ profit for the financial period                        (1,688)                      522
Goodwill included in the profit and loss account previously written off       -                      216
Net effect on reserves                                                  (1,688)                      738

Earnings per share - basic                                                 2.5p                     6.4p

Earnings per share - diluted                                               2.5p                     6.4p



* Restated for the impact of FRS 19 "Deferred Taxation"





AUDITED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET


                                                                          At 30 March 2002       At 31 March 2001
                                                                                                     As restated*
                                                                                      £000                   £000
Fixed assets
Intangible assets - goodwill                                                         3,236                  3,282
Tangible assets                                                                     16,215                 17,576
Investments                                                                             84                     84
                                                                                    19,535                 20,942
Current assets
Stocks                                                                              26,037                 27,898
Debtors:
- falling due within one year                                                       18,061                 20,708
- falling due after one year                                                        30,951                 24,979
                                                                                    49,012                 45,687
Investments                                                                          1,990                  2,570
Cash at bank and in hand                                                            17,685                 28,179
                                                                                    94,724                104,334
Current liabilities
Creditors:  amounts falling due within one year:
- short-term borrowings                                                            (7,504)                (6,827)
- other creditors                                                                 (17,807)               (21,130)
                                                                                  (25,311)               (27,957)
Net current assets                                                                  69,413                 76,377

Total assets less current liabilities                                               88,948                 97,319
Creditors:  amounts falling due after more than one year:
- loans and other borrowings                                                         (653)                (6,027)
- other creditors                                                                  (1,131)                  (962)
                                                                                   (1,784)                (6,989)
Provisions for liabilities and charges                                             (7,519)                (5,971)

Net assets                                                                          79,645                 84,359


Capital and reserves
Called up share capital                                                             14,020                 16,512
Share premium account                                                               13,517                 13,510
Revaluation reserve                                                                  1,709                  1,762
Capital redemption reserve                                                           2,500                      -
Profit and loss account                                                             47,899                 52,575

Shareholders' funds (including non-equity)                                          79,645                 84,359



* Restated for the impact of FRS 19 "Deferred Taxation"





AUDITED CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT


                                                                       Period ended           Period ended
                                                                       30 March 2002          31 March 2001
                                                                       £000        £000       £000         £000

Net cash inflow from operating activities                                           362                   6,095

Returns on investments and servicing of finance

Interest received                                                     1,366                  1,625
Interest paid                                                       (1,140)                (1,050)
Interest element of finance lease rental payments                      (60)                  (110)
Preference dividends paid                                              (60)                  (132)    

Returns on investments and servicing of finance                                     106                     333

Taxation repaid/(paid)                                                              202                   (789)

Capital expenditure

Purchase of tangible fixed assets                                   (1,143)                (1,532)
Net receipt from sale of tangible fixed assets                          116                  2,443

Capital expenditure                                                             (1,027)                     911


Acquisitions and disposals - acquisitions                                         (597)                       -


Equity dividends paid                                                           (3,083)                 (3,083)

Net cash (outflow)/ inflow before use of liquid resources and                   (4,037)                   3,467
financing


Management of liquid resources
Withdrawal of term deposits                                          13,501                  7,307
Reduction of current assets - investments                               580                    627

Management of liquid resources                                                   14,081                   7,934

Financing
Issue of ordinary share capital                                          15                      -
Repayment of preference shares (including premium)                  (2,738)                      -
New bank loans                                                            -                  1,055
Repayment of bank loans                                             (6,048)                (1,087)
Capital element of finance lease rental payments                      (629)                  (691)

Net cash outflow from financing                                                 (9,400)                   (723)

Increase in cash in the period                                                     644                   10,678



Cash, for the purpose of the cash flow statement, comprises cash in hand and
deposits repayable on demand, less overdrafts payable on demand.



Liquid resources are defined as term deposits and amounts held as current
assets-investments.





NOTES


1.    The financial information set out above does not constitute the company's statutory accounts for the period ended
      30 March 2002 or the period ended 31 March 2001 but is derived from those accounts. Statutory accounts for 2001
      have been delivered to the registrar of companies, whereas those for 2002 will be delivered following the
      company's Annual General Meeting. The auditors have reported on the 2001 accounts; their report was unqualified
      and did not contain a statement under section 237(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 1985.




2.    The annual report will be posted to all shareholders in due course and will be available on request from the
      Secretary, The 600 Group PLC, 600 House, Landmark Court, Revie Road, Leeds LS11 8JT.




3.    The final dividend of 4.0p per share, if approved by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting, will be paid on 9
      September 2002 to shareholders on the register at 11 August 2002.







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