Interim Results
International Greetings PLC
06 December 2005
6 December 2005
International Greetings plc
Interim results show continued growth and development of overseas markets
International Greetings plc ('International Greetings' or 'the Group') (AIM:
IGR), the leading designer and manufacturer of private label greetings products,
wrapping paper, Christmas crackers and film and television character based
licensed stationery, announces interim results for the six months to 30
September 2005. Highlights include:
• Group turnover grew 36% to £83.8 million (2004: £61.8 million)
• Adjusted *profit before taxation increased by 6% to £6.7 million
(2004: £6.3 million)
• Basic earnings per share for the period were 9.6p (2004: 10.1p),
whilst adjusted *earnings per share increased from 10.5p to 10.9p
• US division performed strongly with sales growing 40% to $23.7 million
(2004: $16.9 million)
• Penetration into Europe continues with further growth expected
• Anker International, a design, import and distribution business
acquired for £35.5 million in May contributed a turnover of £16.9 million and
profit before tax of £1.8 million and continues to perform in line with
expectations
• 14% increase in interim dividend to 2p a share (2004: 1.75p) proposed
reflecting Board's continued confidence
• £2.1 million exceptional profit from the recent £19 million sale and
leaseback of Anker's head office and warehouse, which will be reflected in the
full year's results
• Stationery ranges launched for Little Britain, and Disney's Christmas
film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
* figure excludes amortisation of goodwill of £520,000 (six months to 30th
September 2004: £182,000, 12 months to 31st March 2005: £443,000) and
exceptional item of £121,000 (six months to 30th September 2004: £nil, 12 months
to 31st March 2005: £738,000) and the tax relief thereof.
Commenting on the results, Nick Fisher, joint chief executive, commented:
'Although we are now operating in a very challenging retail environment,
consumers continue to demand our products and our market sector and business
model remain robust. We are highly focused on the development of our
international markets, as evidenced by the 40% growth in our US division this
period and are confident of the full year's outcome.'
For further information:
International Greetings plc: 01707 630 600
Nick Fisher, Joint Chief Executive
Mark Collini, Finance Director
www.internationalgreetings.co.uk
Tavistock Communications: 020 7920 3150
Richard Sunderland, rsunderland@tavistock.co.uk
Rachel Drysdale, rdrysdale@tavistock.co.uk
CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT
I am pleased to announce the interim results for the six months to 30th
September 2005. Turnover for the period grew by 36% to £83.8 million, with
operating profit increasing by 9% to £6.7 million. Interest payable during the
period increased to £0.7 million from nil last year, resulting in profit before
tax of £6.0 million, marginally below last year's £6.1 million. Adjusted *profit
before taxation increased by 6% to £6.7 million. Basic earnings per share for
the period were 9.6p (six months to 30th September 2004: 10.1p), whilst adjusted
* earnings per share increased from 10.5p to 10.9p.
The above figures include turnover of £16.9 million, interest payable of £0.4
million and profit before tax of £1.8 million attributable to the acquisition of
Anker International PLC, a design, import and distribution business, which was
acquired for £35.5 million in May this year. Excluding Anker's figures, turnover
increased 8% to £66.8 million with operating profit before exceptional items of
£4.6 million (six months to 30th September 2004: £6.1 million). This reduction
in operating profit is purely a reflection of the seasonality of the Group's
business and highlights the fact that the first six months figures are not a
reliable indicator of the anticipated full year figures. The months of September
and October account for approximately 35% of the Group's anticipated annual
turnover, and the interim results are therefore extremely sensitive to the
timing of deliveries at that time.
Anker's integration into the Group has proceeded smoothly. The business is
performing in line with expectations and we continue to explore synergy benefits
and integration opportunities which will deliver further value to the Group.
Subsequent to the period end, we have concluded the sale and leaseback of Howard
House, Anker's head office and warehouse, for £19 million. This sale will
generate an exceptional profit of approximately £2.1 million, which will be
reflected in the results for the full year to 31st March 2006.
There are a number of restructuring changes to the Group's operations planned to
occur during the period to 31st March 2006, which will help ensure our business
maintains its competitiveness and efficiency. We are currently in the process of
merging our licensed stationery business, Copywrite Designs, based in Duxford,
into Anker's operations in Newport Pagnell. Hoomark, our Dutch subsidiary, has
merged its European sales force with that of our UK gift wrap division and,
following last year's relocation of our greetings card and tag division to
Latvia, additional manufacturing machinery is being relocated there. The
exceptional costs of these restructuring changes, primarily redundancy and
relocation costs, are estimated to be approximately £1.8 million, most of which
will be incurred during the six month period to 31st March 2006.
Overseas, our US division has performed well during the period, with sales
growing by 40%. We have also continued our penetration into Europe, and expect
to see continued strong growth in both of these geographical regions for the
foreseeable future.
Design and licensed merchandise continues to play an important role in our
business. In addition to the recently announced Little Britain licence, we have
launched licensed ranges of stationery for this year's Disney Christmas film,
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, which premiers
in London tomorrow.
CURRENT TRADING
The retail sector, particularly in the UK, has gone through a difficult period
of trading during the spring and summer seasons and the trend in recent years
for consumers to carry out their Christmas shopping later each year continues.
The bulk of our sales take place in the second half of the year and, whilst we
are not immune to the current challenging retail climate, we have now completed
the majority of the season's deliveries to our customers.
We remain clearly focused on developing sales opportunities in all our markets,
particularly overseas and have commenced working on the creative design and
range developments for the Christmas 2006 season with all our major retail
customers.
Reflecting our confidence in the outcome for the full year and in our business
model of organic growth coupled with highly focused acquisitions, we are
proposing to pay an interim dividend of 2p a share, an increase of 14% over last
year. The dividend will be paid on 20th January 2006 to all shareholders on the
register on 23rd December 2005.
John Elfed Jones CBE DL
Chairman
* figure excludes amortisation of goodwill of £520,000 (6 months to 30th
September 2004: £182,000, 12 months to 31st March 2005: £443,000) and
exceptional item of £121,000 (6 months to 30th September 2004: £nil, 12 months
to 31st March 2005: £738,000).
International Greetings PLC Interim Report 2005
Consolidated profit and loss account for
the six months to 30th September 2005
Note Unaudited 6 months Unaudited 6 months Audited 12 months
to 30th September 2005 to 30th Sept 2004 to 31st March 2005
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Continuing Acquisition Total
Operations -Note 2
Turnover 66,841 16,930 83,771 61,781 143,689
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating profit before
exceptional item 4,645 2,169 6,814 6,140 13,391
Exceptional item 3 (121) - (121) - (738)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating Profit 4,524 2,169 6,693 6,140 12,653
Net interest payable (295) (375) (670) (30) (36)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit before taxation 4,229 1,794 6,023 6,110 12,617
-------------------------------------------------------------
Taxation 5 (1,716) (1,809) (3,098)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Profit for the financial year 4,307 4,301 9,519
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earnings per share 4
Basic 9.6p 10.1p 22.4p
Diluted 9.4p 10.0p 22.1p
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statement of recognised gains and losses
for the six months to 30th Sept 2005
Unaudited 6 months Unaudited 6 months Audited 12 months
to 30th September 2005 to 30th Sept 2004 to 31st March 2005
£000 £000 £000
Profit for the period 4,307 4,301 9,519
Currency translation differences
arising on foreign currency
net investments 703 99 (160)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total recognised gains and losses
relating to the period 5,010 4,400 9,359
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Greetings PLC Interim Report 2005
Consolidated balance sheet
at 30th September 2005
Unaudited Unaudited Audited
30th September 2005 30th September 2004 31st March 2005
Note £000 £000 £000
(restated- (restated -
see note 1) see note 1)
Fixed assets
Intangible assets - goodwill 22,318 2,557 5,113
Tangible assets 46,381 25,484 30,853
Investments 170 - -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
68,869 28,041 35,966
Current assets
Stocks 59,605 39,110 24,178
Debtors 68,045 45,873 16,477
Investments 58 - -
Cash at bank and in hand 3 5 6,490
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
127,711 84,988 47,145
Creditors: amounts falling due
within on year (120,477) (59,512) (22,956)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net current assets 7,234 25,476 24,189
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total assets less
current liabilities 76,103 53,517 60,155
Creditors: amounts falling
due after more than one year (1,599) (1,999) (1,611)
Provisions for liabilities
and charges (1,888) (199) (380)
Deferred income (4,382) (2,656) (4,575)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net assets 68,234 48,663 53,589
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capital and reserves
Called up share capital 2,306 2,129 2,140
Share premium account 15,079 2,515 2,704
Potential issue of shares 672 413 926
Other reserves 724 280 21
Profit and loss account 49,453 43,326 47,798
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Equity shareholders' funds 6 68,234 48,663 53,589
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Greetings PLC Interim Report 2005
Consolidated cash flow statement
for the six months to 30th September 2005
Unaudited 6 months Unaudited 6 months Audited 12 months
to 30th Sept 2005 to 30th Sept 2004 to 31st March 2005
Note £000 £000 £000
Net cash (outflow)/inflow
from operating activities 7 (47,311) (28,585) 14,398
Returns on investments and
servicing of finance 8 (483) (21) (54)
Taxation (1,642) (1,399) (3,600)
Capital expenditure 8 (4,145) (3,408) (8,793)
Acquisitions and disposals 8 (13,145) (1,520) (5,984)
Equity dividends paid (2,652) (2,126) (2,872)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cash (outflow) before financing (69,378) (37,059) (6,905)
Financing 8 (76) (1,276) (1,180)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Decrease) in cash (69,454) (38,335) (8,085)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net (debt)/funds
for the six months to 30th September 2005
Unaudited 6 months Unaudited 6 months Audited 12 months
to 30th Sept 2005 to 30th Sept 2004 to 31st March 2005
£000 £000 £000
(Decrease) in cash in the period (69,454) (38,335) (8,085)
Cash outflow from debt and lease financing 117 1,438 1,541
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Change in net (debt) resulting from cash flows (69,337) (36,897) (6,544)
Translation differences (564) (276) 66
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Movement in net (debt) in the period (69,901) (37,173) (6,478)
Net funds at beginning of period 3,790 10,268 10,268
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net (debt)/funds at end of period (66,111) (26,905) 3,790
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Greetings PLC Interim Report 2005
Notes
1. Basis of preparation
The interim statement has been prepared under the same accounting policies as
those used for the financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2005.
The comparative figures for the year ended 31st March 2005 are an abridged
version of the published accounts, as restated, and are not the company's
statutory accounts for that financial year. Those accounts have been reported on
without qualification by the auditors, and without any statement under Section
237 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 1985, and have been delivered to the
Registrar of Companies.
Following adoption of FRS21 (Events after the balance sheet date), the
comparative figures as at 30th September 2004 and 31st March 2005 have been
restated to exclude the proposed dividend of £745,000 and £2,112,000
respectively, with a corresponding increase in the profit and loss account
balance.
2. Acquisitions
On 27th May 2005, the Group acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Anker
International PLC, an international design, import and distribution business,
for a total consideration of up to £35.5 million. £25 million was paid on
completion, of which the issue of 3,294,242 new ordinary shares, and £12.5
million in cash represented £12.5 million. The remaining £10.5 million is
payable in cash on 27th May 2006, of which £0.5 million is dependent on Anker
achieving a certain level of profitability. During the period from 27th May 2005
to 30th September 2005, the Group's results include turnover of £16.9 million,
interest payable (including interest on cash consideration) of £0.4 million and
profit before tax of £1.8 million attributable to the acquisition of Anker.
3. Exceptional Item
The exceptional item of £121,000 during the six months to 30th September 2005
and £738,000 during the year ended 31st March 2005 represents the costs
associated with the transfer of manufacturing of greetings cards and tags from
Hatfield to a new facility in Latvia.
4. Earnings per share Unaudited Unaudited Audited
6 months 6 months 12 months
to 30th Sept 2005 to 30th Sept 2004 to 31st March 2005
Adjusted basic earnings per
share excluding goodwill and
exceptional item 10.9p 10.5p 24.5p
Loss per share on goodwill (1.1p) (0.4p) (0.9p)
Loss per share on exceptional item (0.2p) - (1.2p)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basic earnings per share 9.6p 10.1p 22.4p
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diluted earnings per share 9.4p 10.0p 22.1p
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The calculation of basic earnings per share is based on 45,002,232 (6 months to
30th September 2004: 42,378,290, 12 months to 31st March 2005: 42,529,155)
ordinary shares being the average number of shares in issue during the period.
The calculation of diluted earnings per share is based on 45,822,342 (6 months
to 30th September 2004: 42,883,669, 12 months to 31st March 2005: 43,165,480)
ordinary shares. The difference of 820,110 (6 months to 30th September 2004:
505,379, 12 months to 31st March 2005: 636,325) represents the dilutive effect
of outstanding employee share options which have been calculated in accordance
with FRS 14.
Adjusted basic earnings per share excluding goodwill and exceptional item is
calculated after adjusting for amortisation of goodwill of £520,000 (6 months to
30th September 2004: £182,000, 12 months to 31st March 2005: £443,000) with
attributable tax relief of £24,000 (six months to 30th September 2004: £22,000,
12 months to 31st March 2005: £48,000) and the exceptional item of £121,000 (6
months to 30th September 2004: £nil, 12 months to 31st March 2005: £738,000)
with attributable tax relief of £36,000 (six months to 30th September 2004:
£nil, 12 months to 31st March 2005: £221,000).
5. Taxation
The taxation charge for the six months ended 30th September 2005 is based on the
estimated tax rate for the full year.
6. Reconciliation of movement in shareholders' funds
Unaudited 6 months Unaudited 6 months Audited 12 months
to 30th Sept 2005 to 30th Sept 2004 to 31st March 2005
£000 £000 £000
(restated - see (restated - see
note 1) note 1)
Profit for the period 4,307 4,301 9,519
Dividend (2,652) (2,126) (2,872)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1,655 2,175 6,647
Other recognised gains and losses
relating to the period (net) 703 99 (160)
New share capital subscribed 12,541 829 1,029
Potential issue of shares (254) (667) (154)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net addition to shareholders' funds 14,645 2,436 7,362
Opening shareholders' funds
(restated - see Note 1) 53,589 46,227 46,227
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Closing shareholders' funds 68,234 48,663 53,589
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Reconciliation of operating profit to net cash (outflow)/inflow from operating
activities
Unaudited 6 months Unaudited 6 months Audited 12 months
to 30th Sept 2005 to 30th Sept 2004 to 31st March 2005
£000 £000 £000
Operating profit before exceptional item 6,814 6,140 13,391
Exceptional item (121) - (738)
Depreciation charge 2,592 2,102 4,472
(Increase) in stocks (29,500) (16,129) (1,251)
(Increase) in debtors (44,241) (34,364) (3,366)
(Decrease) in provision for liabilities (269) - -
Increase in creditors 17,087 13,634 2,001
Grant income (193) (150) (554)
Goodwill amortisation 520 182 443
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Net cash (outflow)/inflow from
operating activities (47,311) (28,585) 14,398
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Gross Cash Flow
Unaudited 6 months Unaudited 6 months Audited 12 Months
to 30th Sept 2005 to 30th Sept 2004 to 31st March 2005
£000 £000 £000
Returns on investment and servicing of finance
Net interest paid (474) (11) (13)
Interest element of finance lease repayments (9) (10) (41)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(483) (21) (54)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Capital expenditure
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (4,335) (3,438) (11,262)
Disposal of tangible fixed assets 190 30 146
Grants received in relation to capital expenditure - - 2,323
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(4,145) (3,408) (8,793)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acquisitions and disposals
Acquisition cost (13,114) (1,520) (5,984)
Net overdraft acquired with subsidiary (31) - -
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(13,145) (1,520) (5,984)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Financing
New shares issued 41 162 361
Repayment of amounts borrowed (48) (1,269) (1,256)
Capital element of finance lease payments (69) (169) (285)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(76) (1,276) (1,180)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analysis of movement in net (debt)/funds
At 31st March Cash flow Exchange Movement At 30th September
2005 2005
£000 £000 £000 £000
Cash at bank and in hand 6,490 (6,698) 211 3
Overdrafts (672) (62,756) (659) (64,087)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5,818 (69,454) (448) (64,084)
Banks loans (1,233) 48 (91) (1,276)
Finance leases (795) 69 (25) (751)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2,028) 117 (116) (2,027)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total net (debt)/funds 3,790 (69,337) (564) (66,111)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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