Preliminary Results

10 June 2013

LATCHWAYS PLC

PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2013

Latchways plc is the world leader in the design, manufacture and sale of engineered fall protection safety systems, which offer continuous protection to individuals working at height. Latchways' systems are sold globally through a network of trained installers to a legislation-driven marketplace. These systems are used to provide worker safety on a diverse range of applications including commercial rooftops, wind power turbines, electricity transmission towers, aircraft wings and industrial plants.

Financial Summary

·; Strong second half performance -Product revenues 34% higher than first half

·; Full year Group revenues up 2.5% to a record £42.4 million (2012: £41.4 million)

·; Adjusted Profit before tax up 3.3% to a record £10.3 million (2012: £9.9 million)

·; Statutory Profit before tax up 10.1% to £10.9 million (2012: £9.9 million)

·; Adjusted Basic earnings per share up 6.5% to 70.32 pence (2012: 66.04 pence)

·; 10% increase in final dividend to 25.00 pence per share, total regular dividends of 36.00 pence per share for the year (2012: 32.73 pence)

·; Net cash £10.5 million (2012: £8.4 million)

Business Development Summary

·; Strong performance from Wingrip, Vertical systems and Self Retracting Lifelines

·; Encouraging first year for Personal Rescue Device

·; Further investment in sales and product development resources

·; New 2,800 square metre production facility under construction

Commenting on the results, Paul Hearson, Chairman, said

"I am pleased to report an excellent result for Latchways, with a strong second half resulting in record revenues and profits for the year. While the underlying economic conditions remain subdued in our traditional markets, with a well-stocked prospect pipeline and continuing investment in revenue-generating resources, I look forward to the future with confidence."

Enquiries:

10 June 2013

LATCHWAYS PLC

PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2013

Chairman's Statement

I am pleased to report an excellent result for Latchways, with a strong second half resulting in record revenues and profits for the year. Some of the strongest growth was achieved with our more recent product developments and in the newest geographical markets. While the underlying economic conditions remain subdued in our traditional markets, we continue to unlock new opportunities for further growth and I am excited about our future.

The strength of the second half recovery was very encouraging, with product revenues 34% ahead of the first half and 25% better than the same period last year. This included some significant business for Wingrip and our Vertical product range, and also a strong performance from our Self Retracting Lifeline ("SRL") range.

As our product range has expanded, partnerships with key customers have become even more important and the Personal Rescue Device ("PRD") is a good example of this. In its first year of sales, this product generated over £1.2 million of revenue, and the relationships that this product has enabled us to develop provide considerable growth opportunities. In this regard, we have recently contracted with our first major harness manufacturer, 3M, to supply this product into the Americas.

Our focus remains on building our team to address the changing global nature of the fall protection market. Although we have already made considerable investments, we continue to recruit further resources to drive sales revenues, and to develop innovative new products.

We are also investing in the physical infrastructure of the business. A £3 million, 2,800 square metre production unit is under construction adjacent to our existing facility. This will enable us to consolidate existing facilities as well as provide us with growth capacity for years to come. The building is scheduled for completion in the Autumn.

Results

Group revenue for the year ended 31 March 2013 was £42.4 million (2012: £41.4 million), a 2.5% increase on last year. Safety Products revenue was up 7%, whilst the smaller, UK focused Safety Services division saw revenues fall by 17%.

Group profit before taxation was 10% higher than last year at £10.9 million (2012: £9.9 million), including a £0.7 million exceptional credit relating to the Latchways Value Creation Plan.

Basic earnings per share rose 13% to 74.49 pence (2012: 66.04 pence). Adjusted basic earnings per share (excluding exceptional items) rose 6% to 70.32 pence.

Net cash balances at year end were £10.5 million (2012: £8.4 million), £2.1 million higher than last year.

Latchways 2010 Value Creation Plan ("VCP")

During the period since August 2010, Latchways has delivered substantial returns to shareholders, well in excess of the FTSE Small Cap Index, despite the considerable headwinds faced by the business. Actual compound EPS growth has been in excess of 12.5% per annum, but below the challenging 15% compound EPS growth target required for awards to vest.

Latchways' Remuneration Committee plans to consult with shareholders on the effects of this in the coming days.

Dividends

The board remains committed to maintaining a progressive dividend policy whilst ensuring that the group retains sufficient funds to make ongoing investments without recourse to banks or shareholders.

Cash flow has been strong again during the year. As a result, the board is recommending a 10% increase in the final dividend to 25.00 pence per share (2012: 22.73 pence). Taken together with the interim dividend of 11.00 pence, the total regular dividend for the year of 36.00 pence per share represents a 10% increase on last year (excluding special dividends), and is approximately twice covered by earnings.

Subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting, the final dividend will be paid on 13 September 2013 to shareholders on the register as at 16 August 2013.

Our trading environment

Our growth this year has been achieved despite very poor conditions in the UK and European construction sectors. Whilst this has created significant challenges for our business, it has reinforced our ambition to seek growth opportunities with new products and new markets. As a result, the long term prospects for our business are stronger than ever. As and when construction markets recover, this will further drive our growth.

Despite further contraction in UK construction activity, we have achieved strong growth in the UK through sales of Wingrip and the SRL range, with the latter gaining further success in the offshore wind industry.

European revenues fell slightly this year, despite successes with the SRL and Vertical product lines. This reflects the depth of the construction recession within the Eurozone, combined with the relative weakness of the Euro during the period.

Our North American business saw some improvement during the year, but remained below the levels seen in 2011. The Wingrip business was constrained by US Government spending restrictions, although the potential for this business remains very high. We are recruiting more sales staff to drive our North American revenues, and we have also recently concluded two new agreements with 3M, for distribution of both the PRD and the SRL range. We are confident of achieving strong growth in the North American market in the coming year.

The rest of the world had another strong year, led by our Vertical product line in Australia and New Zealand, with a number of good prospects beginning to firm up in other markets such as South America, the Middle East and the Far East. Although we continue to work extensively with agents in these geographies, we are also increasing our internal resources to ensure that the potential for these markets is fully exploited.

New Product Development

Innovation remains at the heart of our business. The substantial impact that products such as the SRL and Wingrip variants have made to our revenues in recent years demonstrate the importance of this aspect of the business.

Our latest major product innovation, the Personal Rescue Device ("PRD"), has now been in production for a year, and has made an important contribution to revenues. We are working with a number of global companies who are excited by the PRD as a solution to their rescue needs worldwide. This process takes time because those companies undertake thorough investigations and field testing before moving to budgeting and procurement. We are now at advanced stages of discussion with a number of such customers which gives us confidence in the future for this product. In addition, in 3M we have our first harness manufacturer committed to selling the PRD in combination with their own harness range, and they have placed an initial year's procurement commitment.

We have also recently developed a guardrail system for use on aircraft in conjunction with the Wingrip system. This enabled us to secure a significant contract with Airbus for long term maintenance works, and we expect the system to prove popular with other Wingrip customers.

We are now working on a new, patented product range which will take time to fully bring to market but which we believe will significantly reduce end user costs whilst also improving our own margins on some existing products. We expect the first products in this range to be ready for sale towards the end of the current financial year.

Recent Projects

As our international presence expands, we continue to provide fall protection for some of the most prestigious projects worldwide. Recent major projects include Baku International Airport, Azerbaijan, a Coca Cola facility in Mexico City, and Nestle's manufacturing facility in Mumbai, India. Closer to home, the SECC Glasgow and the O2 Skywalk in London were also completed during the year.

Our vertical business has had a number of notable successes in the year, particularly in the telecommunications sector.

On the wind energy side, our sealed SRL continues to be the product of choice for the industry. During the year, systems were supplied for, amongst others, the Lincs, Robin Rigg and Scroby Sands offshore wind farms in the UK, together with Anholt and Dan-Tysk off the Danish coast.

Wingrip was also selected for a number of significant projects, including a long term-maintenance project with Airbus, and Qatar Airways at the new Doha International Airport.

People

It is when conditions are at their most challenging that we see the true value of having a dedicated and talented workforce. Our whole team has risen to the challenge of recovering from the weak start to the year, and we have seen some outstanding performances from both existing team members and those who have joined us in the past 18 months. The additional sales resources are now up to speed and actively identifying and supporting new customers around the world. In addition, our strengthened operations team is getting to grips with the challenge of managing an expanded product range and consolidating production into our new factory, construction of which is well underway with completion planned for October 2013.

The coming year will see further strengthening of the sales team, together with additional resources for New Product Development, to enhance the rate of progress across the business. I am quite sure that our existing team will welcome these enhancements and on behalf of the board I would like to thank everyone for their efforts over another successful year.

Current Trading and Prospects

Order inflow has been encouraging in the early part of the new year, and our order book is considerably ahead of the same period last year. With a well-stocked prospect pipeline and continuing investment in revenue-generating resources, I look forward to the future with confidence.

Paul Hearson

Chairman

OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW

The board of Latchways plc is pleased to report these consolidated results for the year ended 31 March 2013.

Financial Results

Group revenue for the year was £42.4 million, up 2.5% on the 2012 figure of £41.4 million. This resulted in a statutory operating and pre-tax profit of £10.9 million, 10% better than the prior year (2012: £9.9 million). After deducting exceptional credits, adjusted operating and pre-tax profits were £10.3 million, 3.3% ahead of last year.

The exceptional credit relates to the release of accumulated charges associated with the Latchways 2010 Value Creation Plan ("VCP"). Over the past three years Latchways has delivered returns to shareholders well in excess of the FTSE small cap index. However, due to the recession in UK and European construction, earnings per share growth has fallen short of the 15% compound growth required under the scheme, and as such it is necessary to reverse the accumulated charges relating to the scheme that were recognised in previous years. Given the size and one-off nature of the resulting credit, this has been presented as an exceptional item in these accounts, and the results excluding the credit are presented below as "Adjusted".

Both gross and operating margins are among the group's key performance indicators.

The consolidated gross margin was 0.2% higher than last year at 53.0% (2012: 52.8%). This was due to the relatively strong performance of the higher-margin Safety Products division compared with Safety Services.

Adjusted overheads were 2.5% higher than last year at £12.2 million. This was due to the additional sales and operational resources that have been recruited in the past 19 months, partly offset by the absence of VCP related charges for the year.

The slight improvement in gross margins resulted in adjusted operating margins improving by 0.2% to 24.2%.

The adjusted effective rate of taxation for the year was 23.5% (2012: 25.8%). The reduced rate is due to the reduction in corporation tax rates from 26% to 24% for the year, together with the effect of a prior year tax refund in the year. The statutory effective rate of taxation was 24.5%, reflecting the write down of deferred tax assets relating to the VCP.

Adjusted basic earnings per share increased by 6.5% to 70.32 pence (2012: 66.04 pence), whilst adjusted diluted earnings per share increased by 11% to 70.17 pence (2012: 63.39 pence). This increase reflects the absence of the dilutive effects of the VCP in this year's diluted figures. Statutory basic and diluted earnings per share were 74.49 pence and 74.33 pence respectively.

On the balance sheet, non-current assets reduced by £0.1 million to £10.0 million (2012: £10.1 million). Initial spend on the new factory unit was offset by a reduction in deferred tax assets relating to the VCP. Goodwill was unchanged at £4.4 million. Intangible assets of £2.1 million (2012: £2.1 million) comprise the intellectual property, brands, order books and customer relationships acquired since 2004, together with internally generated patents and trademarks, computer software and ongoing development costs that have been capitalised. Property, plant and equipment of £3.4 million (2012: £3.1 million) mainly represents premises, production plant and tooling. The premises consist of a 2,000 square metre assembly unit, warehouse and head office at Devizes, together with a further 2 acres of additional land directly adjacent. We are in the process of constructing a second production facility on this land, with completion expected in October 2013.

Inventory of £5.3 million (2012: £5.4 million) was £0.1 million lower than last year.

Trade and other receivables were £2.7 million higher at £14.9 million (2012: £12.2 million). This increase was due to the timing of business during the much stronger second half, with several large contracts being delivered in the fourth quarter.

Group creditor days were 42 days (2012: 43 days). Our long term policy of ensuring that suppliers are paid on time remains unchanged.

Cash generation is a key performance indicator for the group. Cash generated from operations as a proportion of adjusted operating profit was 96% (2012: 93%), a strong performance despite the timing of second half business and the resultant increase in receivables. Tax payments in the year were unchanged at £2.6 million (2012: £2.6 million). Capital expenditure increased slightly in the year, due to investment in the new facility.

Regular dividend payments increased by £0.4 million to £3.8 million (2012: £3.4 million). A special dividend of £4.5 million was paid in 2012. Total dividend payments therefore reduced by £4.1 million, from £7.9 million to £3.8 million.

Cash and cash equivalents were £2.1 million higher than last year at £10.5 million (2012: £8.4 million). The group has no borrowings.

Strategic Overview

Latchways is a world leader in the provision of high quality fall protection equipment and related services. Our aim is to maximise shareholder returns through providing the most innovative and functional equipment to a largely legislation-driven market, with a customer support network and after-sales service that is unrivalled in our industry. There has been no change to this strategy during the year.

The challenging global economic climate of recent years has provided considerable affirmation of our long term strategy of diversification of our product range, customer base and geographic coverage within the field of fall protection and rescue. Traditional UK and European construction-facing markets, whilst still a significant contributor to our revenues, are inherently cyclical and it has therefore been our strategy to diversify into other sectors and to expand our product range into personal protective equipment and rescue. The success of our Vertical systems, Wingrip, and more recently the SRL and PRD products demonstrate the importance of this, allowing us to continue to achieve growth despite the worst construction market conditions in many years. The continued development of innovative new products remains at the core of our strategy.

Operating Review

The Latchways group has two business segments, each of which is managed independently with strategic input from the group board. The Safety Products division is the main Latchways product business, operating out of the group headquarters in Devizes and a small production plant in Kozina, Slovenia. Safety Products generates over three quarters of group revenue, and produces 96% of group operating profits. 65% of Safety Products' revenue comes from exports. The Safety Services division allows us to offer turnkey solutions by installing and servicing safety products in the UK, and generates the remaining revenue and profit.

Safety Products

Latchways designs and manufactures fall protection equipment for people working at height. This equipment is sold worldwide, both directly to end users and also through a network of independent, trained installers. In addition, certain products such as the PRD and SRL range are sold through distributors. The business is broadly categorised between horizontal business (systems for those working at height, eg on rooftops, crane rails etc) and vertical business (systems for those climbing to or from height, eg ladders, telecom masts, electricity transmission towers). In recent years the range has been enhanced, both through acquisition and product development, to include Personal Protective Equipment, guardrails and walkways, and most recently rescue equipment.

The Safety Products business saw total revenues increase by 7% in the year, whilst adjusted operating profits increased by 8% to £9.8 million.

Fall protection is a global business. As such, revenue performance by geographical segment is a key performance measure for the Safety Products business.

Further contractions in UK construction have created significant challenges for our UK business this year. Despite this, we have grown UK product revenues by 14% to £12.5 million. Wingrip sales, mainly to Airbus and also British Airways, were very strong, while the PRD contributed £0.6 million, with the Ministry of Defence a notable customer in the year. Vertical sales were also encouraging.

European revenues reduced by 3% to £13.4 million, reflecting weakness in both the construction sector and also the Euro. On a constant currency basis revenues would have increased by 3%. Although traditional installer revenues were down, strong sales of vertical systems to European telecoms customers, together with a good performance for the sealed SRL in the wind energy market, largely offset those reductions. The PRD generated first year revenues of £0.3 million.

North America improved slightly this year, with revenues up 7% to £4.2 million. However this was largely due to the PRD, which generated revenues of £0.3 million, and North America remains a significant market prospect which we are working hard to address. We have increased our installer base considerably in the past year, and are in the process of refocusing key members of our sales team onto the US market. In particular, there remains a significant requirement for Wingrip from both the commercial and military sectors. Recent agreements with 3M will result in significant increases in our SRL and PRD revenues for the coming year, whilst we continue to make progress with the Oil & Gas market. These factors give us confidence in a strong performance from North America in the coming year.

The rest of the world produced further growth in the year, with revenues up 16% to £5.3 million. Our vertical business in Australia and New Zealand, together with worldwide Wingrip sales, were responsible for the increase.

Safety Services

The Safety Services division is Latchways' UK installation arm. The continued contraction of the construction market was exacerbated by reduced revenues in the Specialist Fixing operation. As a result, revenues reduced by 17% in the year. Safety Services revenues were £9.5 million (2012: £11.4 million). Gross margins were maintained at 34%, whilst operating costs were reduced by 9%, but the reduction in revenues resulted in operating profit falling from £0.9 million to £0.5 million.

During the year, Safety Services, as the largest installer of Latchways products, purchased £2.5 million of product from Latchways, a 22% reduction on the previous period, due both to underlying market conditions and also to the large retrofit projects carried out in 2012 not being repeated this year.

Risks and the Operational Environment

As a provider of fall protection solutions to a global marketplace, the group is subject to a number of external factors which affect its risk profile. The more important of these are discussed below.

The Global Economy

As Latchways expands its geographic footprint, the risks inherent in one particular market diminish in importance. However the current problems in both the Eurozone and UK economies are of direct concern to all businesses, and Latchways is not immune to this. By continuing to expand our geographical footprint, and through the development of innovative new products such as the PRD, Latchways is seeking to minimise the impact of the Eurozone and UK economic downturn. The strong revenue growth in the second half of the year demonstrates that this can be achieved.

The Commercial Construction Market

Latchways operates in a diverse and growing range of markets. This ensures that we are not excessively dependent on one market for our growth. Through diversifying our geographic and end user markets, we continue to reduce the importance of both the UK and European commercial construction markets to our overall business, but they remain among our larger markets.

The Legislative Environment

The increasing emphasis on Health and Safety legislation throughout the European Union has been one of the key drivers of the fall protection business over the past decade. The UK, and certain other EU countries, which have interpreted this into specific fall-protection legislation have become significant markets for the Latchways product range. Within the UK, the most obvious examples of this legislation are the Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (revised in 2007), and the Working at Height Regulations 2005. Latchways sees the development of appropriate, workable safety regulations as of critical importance, not just to its own business but to business as a whole. As a result, we have ensured that Latchways is represented on a number of key legislative standards committees, both in the UK and overseas. Outside the EU, we are progressively seeing other countries adopting Health and Safety standards which should continue to provide us with opportunities in the years to come.

Commodity Prices

The majority of Latchways products are constructed of either marine grade stainless steel or, to a lesser extent, aluminium. Market prices for these commodities can be volatile, although prices have remained quite stable over the past two years.

It remains Latchways' philosophy to protect our customers from the volatility of commodity prices through a combination of modest annual price increases and product re-sourcing efforts. This policy has served us well over a number of years, and will continue.

Currency Risk

Latchways has exposure to fluctuations in the Sterling/Euro exchange rate, as our European sales are invoiced in Euros. This risk is partly mitigated by the fact that guardrail and cable are now purchased in Euros. Forward exchange contracts are used to mitigate the remaining exposures.

Our planned revenue growth in North America is expected to be predominantly US Dollar based, which will increase our exposure to the Sterling/US Dollar exchange rate. We expect to use forward exchange contracts to mitigate this exposure.

Other currency exposures currently include Australian and New Zealand Dollars. Where large contracts are won, forward contracts are used to mitigate these risks as appropriate.

Prospects

We continue to see excellent prospects for the Latchways product range around the world and are investing further to ensure that we can meet the opportunities and challenges that these prospects will create. With our existing product lines and further innovations in the pipeline, we remain confident in our ability to continue to generate strong long term returns for our shareholders.

David Hearson

Chief Executive

The directors propose a final dividend of 25.00 pence per share (2012: 22.73 pence) at an estimated cost of £2,792,000 (2012: £2,539,000), which will be subject to shareholder approval at the Annual General Meeting on 6 September 2013.

NOTES

1. Basis of accounting

This financial information does not constitute the group's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 March 2012 and 2013. The financial information in respect of 2013 has been extracted from the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2013 which have not yet been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The auditors have reported on these financial statements; their reports were (i) unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditors drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report, and (iii) did not contain a statement under section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.The information has been prepared in accordance with the EU-adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and IFRIC interpretations and with those parts of the Companies Act 2006 which are applicable to companies reporting under IFRS.

2. Accounting Policies

The accounting policies applied by the group were published in the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2012, which are available on the group's website at www.latchways.com, and they will also be included in the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2013. There have been no significant changes to the group's accounting policies during the year.

3. Forward-looking statements

Certain statements in this preliminary results announcement are forward-looking. Although the group believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. Because these statements involve risk and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

4. Earnings per share

The calculation of basic earnings per ordinary share is based on a weighted average of 11,169,028 ordinary shares in issue and ranking for dividend (2012: 11,159,145) and on a profit of £8,320,000 (2012: £7,369,000).

The calculation of adjusted basic earnings per ordinary share is based on a weighted average of 11,169,028 ordinary shares in issue and ranking for dividend (2012: 11,159,145) and on a profit of £7,854,000 (2012: £7,369,000).

The calculation of both statutory and adjusted diluted earnings per share is based on a weighted average of 11,192,810 ordinary shares (2012: 11,625,499), and uses an average market price for the year of £10.19 (2012: £11.36).

5. Dividends

In addition, the directors are proposing a final dividend in respect of the financial year ended 31 March 2013 of 25.00p (2012: 22.73p) per share which will absorb an estimated £2,792,000 of shareholders' funds (2012: £2,539,000). Subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting, the dividend will be paid on 13 September 2013 to shareholders who are on the register of members on 16 August 2013.

6. The Annual Report and Accounts 

The Annual Report and Accounts for Latchways plc for the year ended 31 March 2013 will be posted to shareholders on or before 6 August 2013 and copies will be available from the registered office, Latchways plc, Hopton Park, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 2JP.

7. The Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting will be held at Hopton Park, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 2JP on 6 September 2013 at 12 noon.