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[December 2005]
Dyson Group Half-Year Figures
Reporting under IFRS for the first time, Dyson Group PLC total revenue for the six months ended 30 September 2005 was £28.1 million against £27.9 million last time. The underlying profit for the period was £2.5 million, up from £1.9 million in the same period in 2004, an increase of 27%.
This was principally brought about by increased sales of Ecoflex(r) and a reduction in the loss reported under IFRS by Millennium Materials Inc. After higher interest charges, underlying profit before tax rose by 6% to £1.9 million (2004: £1.8 million). Following a low prior year tax percentage, underlying earnings per share declined slightly to 4.33p from 4.41p. An unchanged interim dividend of 1.05p per Ordinary share will be paid on 20 January 2006 to shareholders on the register on 30 December 2005.
In its trading update of 21 October 2005, Dyson drew attention to the productivity issues constraining Saffil(r) output due to the unexpectedly large demand for new fibre variants on which the manufacturing process was not at that time optimised, and to the large rise in energy costs affecting the group. But for these factors, points out Dyson, the half-year results would have been significantly better.
Partly as a result of the increasing energy costs, the group continued its programme of rationalising its businesses and costs incurred in this regard amounted to £2.3 million, which gave rise to an overall loss before taxation of £500,000, equating to a loss per share of 0.94p.
The net effect of changing result reporting from UK GAAP to IFRS was to increase underlying profit before tax by £70,000 for the six months ended 30 September 2004 and by £139,000 for the full year to 31 March 2005.
Outside of Saffil(r), a number of the group's businesses well known in the ceramic industry operate in the Thermal Technologies division. On this front, Chairman Tom Brown confirmed that Dyson Group had long anticipated that it would be difficult to maintain the high margins previously achieved in the Thermal Technologies division and this proved to be the case. Even so, he stated, the division comprises some profitable, highly cash generative businesses which deliver a valuable contribution to the group. Sales for the half-year in Thermal Technologies dropped from £13.567 million to £12.867 million and operating profit declined from £1.213 million (margin: 8.9%) to £1.002 million (margin: 7.8%).
ENDS