Financial highlights:
Year ended 28 February 2001 Movement
Gross revenue £153.3m £153.3m up 99%
Group operating profit £27.8m up 104%
Profit before tax £27.2m up 94%
Diluted earnings per share 3.94p up 37%
Full year dividend 0.60p up 20%
David Wright, Executive Chairman, said:
Our trading results have once more demonstrated the strength and potential of the Group’s business. The current year has again started well and we are confident of delivering further significant growth this year.
We have recently completed an extensive review of all Group and operating company revenues and costs as part of our annual budgeting and planning process. We are aware of the concerns about economic slowdown and maintain rigorous financial controls. We know we have the ability to move swiftly to preserve margins in any of our businesses and we continue to maintain flexibility in our cost base. The signals from within our Group, however, remain that the underlying growth rates and opportunities for cross-referral and other synergies outweigh any adverse factors and we continue to gain market share. This strengthens our confidence in the Group’s capacity to sustain earnings per share growth for the longer term as well as the current year.
