8th May 2009 07:00
LAIRD PLC ("LAIRD")
AGM and Interim Management Statement
Laird is a focused electronics and technology company, a leader in the design and supply of performance critical components and systems for wireless and other advanced electronics applications: we provide innovative technology for a connected world.
At the Annual General Meeting being held later today the following comments will be made, regarding current trading, financial performance and outlook for the financial year. This statement covers the period from 1 January 2009 to the date of this announcement and constitutes Laird's first 2009 Interim Management Statement as required by the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
At the AGM today Nigel Keen, Chairman of Laird, will comment:-
"Laird had strong growth in revenue and profits in the first half of 2008. As the year progressed the extremely challenging economic environment affected all of our end user markets and resulted in a marked fall off in demand for our products. Our results in the second half of the year were impacted both by the global economic downturn and by the associated de-stocking in the global supply chain, particularly in the fourth quarter. We have repositioned the business to operate successfully in the changed economic and market environment, with prompt actions taken to lower our operating costs.
The challenging macro-economic conditions and supply chain de-stocking have, as expected, continued into 2009. In the three months to 31 March 2009, on a like-for-like basis revenues expressed in constant currency declined by 32% compared with the very strong first quarter in 2008, with all three of our divisions affected by the lower demand. Expressed in Sterling, the year-on-year reduction in revenues was substantially less.
Our underlying profit margin percentage, before interest and tax, in the quarter was in mid single digits. Direct labour has been flexed and we are seeing benefits from the actions we have taken to reduce overheads, with the majority of those benefits still to come. We continue to manage our cost base appropriately to reflect the current economic climate.
Working capital continues to be managed in line with demand, and inventory has been reduced from year end levels. Capital expenditure in the quarter was well below depreciation. Our financial position remains strong, and largely unchanged from that at the time of our Preliminary Results announcement on 11 March 2009.
Our visibility of customer demand remains limited. Although our revenues overall appear to have stabilised so far this year, compared with the falls seen in the fourth quarter of 2008, we have yet to see any evidence of a sustained improvement in demand.
Our focus remains on best serving our customers and, as expected, we are seeing some increased pricing pressure and some of our customers moving to consolidate their supplier base, the latter providing both opportunities and risks. While we will continue to take whatever actions are necessary to maintain our competitive position, we still expect first half performance to be considerably below the very strong levels seen in the first half of 2008.
We are expanding our customer base, and our businesses are continuing to develop new families of products. Although we expect that 2009 will remain challenging, we believe that the fundamentals of our markets remain attractive and that our businesses will be well positioned to prosper as these markets return to growth.
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For enquiries: |
Laird PLC: Peter Hill, Chief Executive Jonathan Silver, Finance Director Tel: 020 7468 4040 |
Maitland: Brian Hudspith Suzanne Bartch Tel: 020 7379 5151 |
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