13th Jan 2006 07:00
Johnson Service Group PLC13 January 2006 13 January 2006 Johnson Service Group PLC Pre-Close Trading Statement for the Year End 31 December 2005 Johnson Service Group PLC, the textile related services and facilitiesmanagement Group announces the following trading update prior to entering itsclose period. Overall the Group has continued to trade satisfactorily during the second halfof the year and, therefore, the Board expects to announce full year results inline with market expectations. The business to business divisions of the Group have performed strongly,particularly Corporatewear and Facilities Management. All the acquisitions madeduring the year, are being successfully integrated into the Group and areperforming to plan. The remaining quarter of the Group's revenue comes from the retail sector wheretrading conditions remained challenging. Although no improvement in revenue wasseen compared to the first half of the year, costs were successfully managedwithout compromising quality, enabling profitability to improve during thesecond half of the year. Following the preliminary results of recent tri-annual valuation of the JohnsonGroup Staff Pension Scheme (the Group's main defined benefit scheme) we expectthe deficit on this scheme, net of taxation, calculated under IAS 19 rules, tohave increased by some £11m from the position reported under FRS17 as atDecember 2004. The increase in the deficit largely reflects a fall in corporatebond yields and allowances made for longer life expectancy. The increaseddeficit will result in increased notional interest charges and additionalpension costs, of approximately £1.5m per annum from 2006. The defined benefitscheme was closed to new entrants in 2002. The Group will prepare its consolidated financial statements to 31 December 2005under UK GAAP, supplemented with pro forma IFRS financial information, ratherthan under IFRS as previously indicated. This is to comply with the CompaniesAct 1985 (as amended November 2004) and is a result of the current accountingyear commencing on 26 December 2004, i.e. prior to the IFRS adoption date of 1January 2005. We do not anticipate that this will have any substantial impacton our reported results. The Group intends to announce its preliminary results on 13 March 2006. For further information, please contact: Johnson Service Group PLC Hudson SandlerStuart Graham, CEO Michael SandlerJim Wilkinson, CFO Sandrine GallienTelephone: 020 7290 0390 Telephone: 020 7796 4133Website: johnsonplc.com For more information on the Johnson Service Group plc please view websitewww.johnsonplc.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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