Morgan Crucible Co PLC
23 April 2004
CHAIRMAN'S AGM STATEMENT
As reported at the time of our Preliminary Results announcement in February,
trading in the current year remains stable and continues in line with the
Board's expectations. A number of engineering companies have spoken of an
encouraging outlook for 2004 and beyond, however we are not seeing a broad based
recovery at this stage in our cycle. As we have stated recently we are not
relying on a market upturn to improve our future trading performance.
In February the Group raised £54 million by means of a successful 1 for 4 rights
issue. The proceeds will enable us to complete the profit improvement programme
as quickly as possible, and have strengthened Morgan Crucible's capital base,
increased flexibility and, in the short term, reduced borrowings. The profit
improvement and targeted cost savings programmes are on track.
Morgan Crucible's focus on reducing debt will continue, assisted by the disposal
of those businesses that do not meet our key performance criteria. In addition
we are simplifying the structure of the Group. As a result, we have already made
a number of small disposals in 2004. In March and April this year we disposed of
the balance of our non-core soft coatings facilities in Evesham, UK, and
Peachtree City, Georgia, USA for a total consideration of approximately $12.5
million. We have also continued to close minor operations in several other
locations.
Morgan Crucible had a challenging year in 2003 which it has come through
successfully so I would like to thank all our employees for their efforts and
achievements and in particular our investors for their continuing support.
For further information please contact:
The Morgan Crucible Company plc
Victoria Gould, Director of Group Communications 01753 837 000
Finsbury Group
Charlotte Hepburne-Scott, Robin Walker 020 7251 3801
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*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.