Half Yearly Report

RNS Number : 4715O

Slingsby(H.C.)Plc

20 September 2013

H C Slingsby plc ("the Company")

Report for the half year ended 30 June 2013

20 September 2013

Statement by the Chairman

In our trading statement issued at the AGM on 21 June 2013 I stated that the Board's expectations were for a small pre-tax loss for the first half of 2013 and this is now confirmed with a pre-tax loss of £32,000, compared with a pre-tax profit of £203,000 for the six months ended 30 June 2012. Turnover for the six months ended 30 June 2013 was £6.9 million (six months ended 30 June 2012: £7.5 million). As stated in the AGM statement, the lower levels of trading in the period were exacerbated by a notable decrease in public sector spend in the period up to 31 March 2013.

The Company has not experienced any significant upturn in the level of trading in the second half and if this trend continues for the remainder of the year, the Directors believe the Company will incur a pre-tax loss for the year.

Our cash position remains strong and we continue to invest in our new enterprise system and website project which are expected to go live before the end of the year. We believe that the new website will enable dynamic pricing and provide online customers with a far better user experience.

The deficit on the Company's defined benefit pension scheme, which is now closed to future accrual, reduced to £9.2 million as measured in accordance with IAS19R (31 December 2012: £9.8 million). The improvement is largely due to the rise in corporate bond yields over the period which has resulted in a decrease in the value of the liabilities. Other contributory factors were the effect of the recovery plan contributions paid into the scheme and investment returns being higher than assumed. These factors were offset by the effect of increased inflationary expectations. The finance expense associated with the pension scheme in the Income Statement rose to £206,000 on IAS19R (six months ended 30 June 2012: £152,000 on IAS19 compared to £199,000 on IAS19R). The increase in finance expense is mainly due to a requirement to use more conservative assumptions under IAS19R compared to IAS19 (which was used previously). The deficit in the pension scheme is unaffected by the changes introduced by IAS19R.

In view of these results and the lack of any significant upturn in the level of trading in the second half to date, the Board has declared an interim dividend of 2.0p (six months ended June 2012: 4.0p) which will be paid on 3 January 2014 to shareholders on the Register at the close of business on 6 December 2013.

J R Waterhouse

Non-Executive Chairman

For further information please contact:

H C Slingsby plc
Dominic Slingsby, Managing Director	01274 535 030
Ray Hudson, Financial Director
Sanlam Securities UK Limited
David Worlidge	020 7628 2200

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Income Statement for the half year ended 30 June 2013

		Half year	Half year	Year
		ended	Ended	Ended
		30/06/13 (Unaudited)	30/06/12 (Unaudited)	31/12/12 (Audited)
	Note	£'000	£'000	£'000
Turnover		6,913	7,535	14,588
		---------	---------	---------
Operating profit before exceptional item		155	457	489
Exceptional item	2	-	(124)	(129)
		---------	---------	---------
Operating profit		155	333	360
Finance income		19	22	43
Finance expense		(206)	(152)	(301)
		--------	--------	--------
(Loss)/Profit before taxation		(32)	203	102
Taxation	3	6	-	70
		--------	--------	--------
(Loss)/Profit for the period attributable to equity Shareholders		(26) --------	203 --------	172 --------
Basic and diluted earnings per share		(2.6p)	20.3p	17.2p
		--------	--------	--------
Interim/total dividend per share		2.0p	4.0p	19.0p
		--------	--------	--------

The results set out above derive entirely from continuing operations.

The above unaudited condensed consolidated income statement should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income and Expense for the half year ended 30 June 2013

	Half year	Half year	Year
	ended	Ended	Ended
	30/06/13 (Unaudited)	30/06/12 (Unaudited)	31/12/12 (Audited)
	£'000	£'000	£'000

Actuarial gain/(loss) on pension scheme	590	(2,045)	(1,339)
Movement in deferred tax relating to retirement benefit obligation	(136)	424	46
Exchange adjustment	14	(9)	(7)
	--------	--------	--------
Net income/(expense) recognised directly in equity	468	(1,630)	(1,300)
(Loss)/Profit for the period	(26)	203	172
	--------	--------	--------
Total income/(expense) recognised for the period attributable to equity shareholders	442	(1,427)	(1,182)
	--------	--------	--------

The above unaudited consolidated statement of comprehensive income and expense should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Unaudited Consolidated Balance Sheet as at 30 June 2013

	30/06/13 (Unaudited)	30/06/12 (Unaudited)	31/12/12 (Audited)
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Assets
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment	6,251	6,465	6,358
Intangible asset	379	198	202
Deferred tax asset	1,293	1,780	1,419
	---------	---------	--------
	7,923	8,443	7,979
	---------	---------	--------
Current assets
Inventories	2,089	2,442	2,270
Trade and other receivables	2,258	2,497	2,443
Cash and cash equivalents	2,767	2,992	2,836
	---------	---------	---------
	7,114	7,931	7,549
	---------	---------	---------
Liabilities
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables	(2,636)	(2,880)	(2,722)
Derivative financial liability	-	(6)	(7)
Current tax liabilities	(16)	(173)	(12)
	---------	---------	---------
	(2,652)	(3,059)	(2,741)
	---------	---------	---------
Net current assets	4,462	4,872	4,808
	---------	---------	---------
Non-current liabilities
Retirement benefit obligation	(9,184)	(10,665)	(9,838)
	---------	---------	---------


Net assets	3,201	2,650	2,949
	---------	---------	---------
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital	250	250	250
Retained earnings	2,922	2,387	2,684
Translation reserve	29	13	15
	---------	---------	---------
Total equity	3,201	2,650	2,949
	---------	---------	---------

The above unaudited consolidated balance sheet should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Changes in Shareholders' Equity

	Share Capital £'000	Retained earnings £'000	Translation reserve £'000	Total equity £'000

At 1 January 2012	250	4,125	22	4,397
Total comprehensive expense recognised for the period	-	(1,418)	(9)	(1,427)
Dividends paid	-	(320)	-	(320)
	---------	---------	---------	---------
At 30 June 2012	250	2,387	13	2,650
	---------	---------	---------	---------

At 1 January 2013	250	2,684	15	2,949
Total comprehensive income recognised for the period	-	428	14	442
Dividends paid	-	(190)	-	(190)
	---------	---------	---------	---------
At 30 June 2013	250	2,922	29	3,201
	---------	---------	---------	---------

The above unaudited consolidated statement of changes in shareholders' equity should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Unaudited Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the half year ended 30 June 2013

		Half year	Half year	Year
		ended	ended	Ended
		30/06/13 (Unaudited)	30/06/12 (Unaudited)	31/12/12 (Audited)
	Note	£'000	£'000	£'000
Cash flows from operating activities
Cash generated from operations	4	155	753	1,041
UK corporation tax paid		-	-	(108)
		---------	---------	---------
Cash generated from operating activities		155	753	933
		---------	---------	---------
Cash flows from investing activities
Interest received		19	14	40
Purchase of property, plant and equipment		(228)	(180)	(275)
Proceeds from sales of property, plant and equipment		11	15	26
		---------	---------	---------
Net cash outflow from investing activities		(198)	(151)	(209)
		---------	---------	---------
Cash flows from financing activities
Equity dividends paid		(40)	(40)	(320)
		---------	---------	---------
Net cash outflow from financing activities		(40)	(40)	(320)
		---------	---------	---------
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents		(83)	562	404
Opening cash and cash equivalents		2,836	2,439	2,439
Exchange differences		14	(9)	(7)
		---------	---------	---------
Closing cash and cash equivalents		2,767	2,992	2,836
		---------	---------	---------

The above unaudited consolidated statement of cash flows should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.

Notes to the Interim Report for the half year ended 30 June 2013

1.	Interim Financial Information
	The unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial information does not constitute statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006. The interim financial statements, which are unaudited and have not been reviewed by the Company's auditors, have been prepared in accordance with the policies set out in the 2012 Annual Report and Accounts. The comparative figures for the year ended 31 December 2012 do not constitute full financial statements and have been abridged from the full accounts for the year ended on that date, on which the auditors gave an unqualified report, which did not contain an emphasis of matter paragraph and did not contain any statement under Section 498 of the Companies Act 2006. The 2012 accounts have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The Company has chosen not to adopt IAS 34 'Interim Financial Statements' but has adopted IAS 19R: 'Amendments to IAS 19 Employee benefits' in preparing the financial information.
2.	Exceptional item	Half year	Half year	Year
		ended	ended	Ended
		30/06/13 (Unaudited)	30/06/12 (Unaudited)	31/12/12 (Audited)
		£'000	£'000	£'000

	Redundancy costs	-	124	129
		----------	---------	---------

3.	Taxation	Half year	Half year	Year
		ended	ended	Ended
		30/06/13 (Unaudited)	30/06/12 (Unaudited)	31/12/12 (Audited)
		£'000	£'000	£'000

	Current tax	4	51	(2)
	Deferred tax	(10)	(51)	(68)
		---------	---------	---------
		(6)	-	(70)
		---------	---------	---------
	The effective tax rate is nil.
4.	Cash generated from Operations
		Half year	Half year	Year
		ended	ended	Ended
		30/06/13 (Unaudited)	30/06/12 (Unaudited)	31/12/12 (Audited)
		£'000	£'000	£'000

	(Loss)/Profit before tax	(32)	203	102
	Net finance costs	187	130	258
	Depreciation and amortisation	187	192	381
	Profit on sale of property, plant and equipment	(1)	(7)	(9)
	Difference between pension charge and contributions	(270)	(270)	(540)
	Decrease/(Increase) in inventories	181	(170)	2
	Decrease in trade and other receivables	185	64	114
	(Decrease)/Increase in trade and other payables	(282)	611	733
		---------	---------	---------
	Cash generated from operating activities	155	753	1,041
		---------	---------	---------