Commenting on its figures, opposite, cables and construction group BICC Plc says soaring raw materials prices have been hurting, and it is achieving margins of only 1% to 2% on its low-voltage cables used for things such as Ethernet and telephone wiring. It calls the returns inadequate and says it will take time to build them up. Cables overall are on 6.5% margins, compared with 10% at the peak.The dividend is sliced to 14.6 pence from 19.25p.
