Banks and bondholders who grabbed 99.5% of the equity as the price for writing off much of the company’s debts are unlikely to see their holding soars in value when Marconi’s shares return to the London stock exchange later this month. While the final quarter to March 31 usually shows a seasonal uplift in sales, this year there was a sequential fall of 7% to 430m pounds ($692.3m).
However, chief executive Mike Parton said that while the market for its products and services continues to decline, the company has been able to limit the percentage fall in sales to single figures for the last three quarters. He said he expects the market to remain very tough this calendar year and said the company is well placed for a market recovery.
The one area where the company has made progress is hacking back costs, and it ended the year with a core run-rate of 490m pounds ($788.9m), below the target of 520m pounds ($837.2m) and has taken action to bring it down to 450m pounds ($724.5m) during the current financial year.
Source: Computerwire
