Latest News
26 November 2007
Preliminary results for the year ended 30 September 2007
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2007 |
2006 |
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£m |
£m |
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Revenue |
140.7 |
128.2 |
+10% |
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Operating profit* |
22.1 |
19.4 |
+14% |
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Profit before tax† |
22.3 |
31.2 |
-29% |
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Adjusted profit before tax* |
23.3 |
20.4 |
+14% |
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Free cash flow† |
13.2 |
24.3 |
-46% |
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Pence |
Pence |
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Basic earnings per share† |
63.6 |
105.5 |
-40% |
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Adjusted earnings per share* |
69.8 |
62.8 |
+11% |
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Total dividends per share |
27.0 |
23.0 |
+17% |
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Free cash flow per share† |
58.7 |
108.2 |
-46% |
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* before sale of property and amortisation of acquisition intangible assets |
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- Revenue and adjusted profit before tax increased by 10% and 14%, respectively; driven by strong performance of Controls businesses and improved Group operating margins to 15.7% (2006: 15.1%).
- Four acquisitions completed during the year for a total cash investment of £31.6m; three of these completed in August, with the full impact to be seen in FY2008.
- Underlying organic growth in revenue and operating profit of 7% and 14% respectively; contribution from acquisitions in 2007 largely offset by adverse currency effects on translation of results of overseas businesses.
- Strong free cash flow of £13.2m; year end cash funds reduced by £24.3m to £12.4m, after acquisitions and other investments in businesses.
- Final dividend of 18.0p per share (2006: 15.0p); total dividend for year up 17% at 27.0p (2006: 23.0p); the Directors will seek shareholders’ approval at the AGM on 17 January 2008 for 4 for 1 bonus issue of ordinary shares.
Commenting on the results for the year, Bruce Thompson, Diploma’s Chief Executive said:
“The Group delivered another year of double digit growth and strong free cash flow in 2007, despite the negative impact from adverse currency effects. The four acquisitions completed during 2007 are expected to make a strong contribution to further growth in 2008.”
Notes:
Diploma PLC uses alternative performance measures as key financial indicators to assess the underlying performance of the Group. These include adjusted profit before tax, adjusted earnings per share and free cash flow. The narrative in this Announcement is based on these alternative measures and an explanation is set out in note 2 to the consolidated financial statements in this Preliminary Announcement.
The full results are available to download in PDF format.
For further enquiries please contact: |
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Bruce Thompson, Chief Executive Officer |
020 7549 5700 |
Nigel Lingwood, Group Finance Director |
020 7549 5705 |
Ian Seaton, Bankside Consultants |
020 7367 8891 |
NOTE TO EDITORS:
Diploma PLC is an international group of specialised distribution businesses operating in three sectors:
Life Sciences – suppliers of consumables, instrumentation and related services for research, environmental and clinical applications. Principal companies are Anachem and the a1-envirosciences group in Europe and Somagen and AMT in Canada.
Seals – Suppliers of hydraulic seals, kits and components for heavy mobile machinery. Principal companies are the Hercules Fluid Power Group in North America and FPE and M Seals in Europe.
Controls – Suppliers of specialised wiring, connectors and control devices for technically demanding applications. Principal companies are the IS-Group in the UK and US, Sommer Filcon in Germany and Hawco in the UK.
Within each of these sectors, the Diploma businesses serve industry segments with long term growth potential and with the opportunity for sustainable superior margins through the quality of customer service, depth of technical support and value adding activities.