AGM Statement

RNS Number : 6209L

Cropper(James) PLC

03 August 2011

 



James Cropper PLC

Annual General Meeting and Trading Update

3rd August 2011

STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN, MARK CROPPER

At the AGM to be held at 11.00am today, Mark Cropper, Chairman, will make the following statement:

"I am pleased to report that the Group has traded profitably in the opening quarter in line with management expectations."

"The strong recovery made by James Cropper Speciality Papers ("Speciality Papers") in the final quarter of last year has continued against the background of high pulp and energy costs. Turnover in the first three months was up 4% on the same period last year, despite volume being down 7%. The price of pulp continued to move upward during the first quarter. Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft pulp opened at US$965 and was US$1020/tonne by mid-July, an increase of 60% since July 2009."

"The growing concerns of customers in the USA relating to resurgent recessionary pressures and Federal austerity measures are beginning to be reflected in the order book of Technical Fibre Products ("TFP"). Although it is early in the current financial year and therefore difficult to quantify, it should be anticipated that TFP's profits in 2011/12 will be down on last year's record result."

"James Cropper Converting ("Converting") is trading in line with management expectations. As previously reported, sales of digital printing grades into the US retail sectorcontributed significantly to the raised level of operating profit in 2010/11. I stated in the Annual Report that as a proportion of the 2010/11 sales of digital printing grades included customer launch stocks, sales of these products in 2011/12 would be lower. As a consequence, Converting's profit in the current financial year will be below the exceptional result of 2010/11 but ahead of the trend of previous years."

"The recovery of Speciality Papers is very pleasing and will offset any potential down turn in TFP, illustrating the strength of our balanced portfolio of businesses. The current financial year opened with a strong balance sheet and low borrowings following the measures we have taken to reduce risk and conserve cash over recent years. This situation provides me with confidence as we approach an exciting period of capital investment which aims to strengthen our platform for growth and to mitigate our risk exposure to raw material and energy costs."

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Enquiries:
John Denman, Group Finance Director	Andrew Kitchingman, Director, Corporate Finance
James Cropper PLC	Arbuthnot Securities Limited
Tel: [phone]	Tel: [phone]
www.cropper.com

 

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