Interim Management Statement

RNS Number : 8724G

The Vitec Group PLC

19 May 2011

 



19 May 2011                                                                                                                

The Vitec Group plc

Interim Management Statement

The Vitec Group plc ("Vitec" or the "Group"), the international provider of products and services for the broadcast, photographic, and MAG (military, aerospace and government) markets, announces the following Interim Management Statement for the period from 1 January to 18 May 2011 ahead of its Annual General Meeting to be held later today.

Trading in the period has been encouraging, with a continued improvement in demand from all three markets.

The Broadcast and video market, which is served by our Videocom and Services divisions, has seen a steady improvement in demand. In Camera Dynamics and Litepanels, revenues for the first four months of the year were both up on the same period in the previous year. The Services division has had a good start to the year; as expected, revenue was lower than the corresponding period in 2010, which included the Vancouver Olympic Games.

The Photographic market, which our Imaging & Staging division mainly serves, has seen further improvements during the period and the new Manfrotto Powerbrand supports and bags products have been well received by consumer retail channels. Initial trading at Lastolite, acquired on 7 March 2011, has been in line with expectations. Staging has benefited from the contract to supply a significant part of the staging for the upcoming Take That tour.

We continue to make progress in the MAG market with our first order for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle applications. IMT has now successfully delivered task orders 1 and 2 of the Auction 66 framework agreement, together with some ancillary products, and the option to continue the agreement for the second of the five years has been exercised. It expects to receive task order 3 during the course of 2011.

At 30 April 2011, Group net debt was £37.2 million compared to £28.1 million at 31 December 2010, the increase principally reflecting the net initial consideration of £8.3 million for the Lastolite acquisition. The Group has a committed multi-currency loan facility, which expires in August 2013, and a new Private Placement shelf facility of $75 million with Pricoa Capital Group Limited (see note 3).

While uncertainties remain and our order book visibility continues to be limited, the Board currently expects pre-tax profits for the year to be slightly ahead of the top end of the range of current market expectations (see note 4).

ENDS

Enquiries:

The Vitec Group plc                                       

Stephen Bird, Group Chief Executive                                         Telephone: [phone]

Nick Humby, Interim Chief Financial Officer

Financial Dynamics     

Nick Hasell / Sophie Moate                                                         Telephone: [phone]

Notes:

1.   Average foreign exchange rates in the period January to April 2011: £1 = $1.61, £1 = €1.16, €1 = $1.39.

2.   2010 average market exchange rates: £1 = $1.55, £1 = €1.17, €1 = $1.33.

3.   As at 30 April 2011, the Group was utilising £44.8 million of the committed multi-currency loan facility of £125 million. This facility was reduced to £100 million when the Group put in place the new Private Placement shelf facility, of which $25 million was drawn on 11 May 2011 for a fixed six year term. The drawing was used to pay back part of the multi-currency loan facility.

4.   Market expectations for 2011 PBT range from £28.0 million - £29.8 million.

5.   Our interim results announcement will be on 16 August 2011.

Vitec is an international Group principally serving customers in the broadcast, photographic and military, aerospace and government (MAG) markets. Listed on the London Stock Exchange with 2010 revenue of £310 million, Vitec is based on strong, well known, premium brands on which its customers worldwide rely. 

Vitec is currently organised into three divisions:  Videocom, Imaging & Staging, and Services.

Videocom designs and distributes systems and products used in broadcasting and live entertainment, film and video production and MAG.

Imaging & Staging designs, manufactures and distributes equipment and accessories for photography, video and events.

Services provides equipment rental, workflow design and technical support for camera, video, audio, fibre optic and wireless technology used by TV production teams and film crews.

 

END

 

 

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