25th Sep 2014 08:40
LONDON (Alliance News) - Haynes Publishing Group PLC said Thursday that although trading in its consumer market remains challenging, it believes the refocusing of its business will create long-term organic growth opportunities, as restructuring costs hit profit in the year to the end of May.
The manual publisher maintained its total dividend for the year at 7.5 pence per share.
The company posted a pretax profit of GBP2.0 million for the year, down from GBP3.2 million, as revenue rose to GBP29.3 million from GBP27.6 million, offset by exceptional costs of GBP2.2 million for restructuring and acquisitions.
Haynes has restructured its UK business, consolidating its UK editorial department and outsourcing its UK distribution. Headcount in the UK was cut by a third amid the restructuring. This business will now focus on the most profitable, higher margin titles going forward, said the company. It also acquired acquired the Clymer and Intertec manuals business last September, strengthening its position in motorcycle service and repaid manuals.
In the second-half of the year the company completed the development of a new 'Touch' interface for digital platforms, and merged its WorkshopData ATI and TruckData ATI modules into a single database.
Haynes said that trading for its consumer products in the early months of the current year has been soft, with key automotive retailers in its main geographic markets reducing inventory. However, it said it is addressing this issue and does not expect it to have a "material long term impact" of its business.
Sales of its professional products in Europe continue to be ahead of the previous year, Haynes said.
For the coming year the company will focus on delivering new digital platforms, and expanding into new geographic regions, it said. While the company had been looking at options to enter the South American market, it has concluded that this is not a commercially viable market for it in the short to medium term.
As a result it will now look at alternative markets outside of Europe, and has begun research into identifying potential products for the North American market.
Haynes plans to invest around GBP3.0 million in updating and expanding its professional range of products, and over GBP2.5 million on its consumer product ranges in the year.
Shares in Haynes were trading up 7.9% at 183.50 pence per share Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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