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[July 2002]
Imerys Reports Substantial Growth in Net Income from Recurring Operations
The Supervisory Board of Imerys, met on 25 July 2002 to examine the group's preliminary unaudited results for the first half of 2002. Definitive first-half results will be published on 19 September 2002.Economic conditions stabilised in the first half of 2002, after deteriorating steadily in 2001. In that context, operating income improved by 4.2% over the half-year (+1.7% in Q1 and +6.3% in Q2) and net income from recurring operations rose substantially - up by 14.9%.
Imerys says that this improvement in results is due to the structural actions carried out by the group to strengthen and develop its positions in all its business groups, especially Pigments & Additives.
The group's sales totalled 1.4548 billion euro in the first half of 2002, compared with 1.4874 billion euro for the same period in 2001, which represents a decrease of 2.2% on a current basis. This figure takes into account the 30.8 million euro contribution of external growth operations (+2.1%) and a slightly negative foreign exchange effect (-0.8%).
The group's operating income grew 4.2% to stand at 184.8 million euro, leading to a significant improvement in operating margin, from 11.9% in the first half of 2001 to 12.7% in the first half of 2002. This increase - which was achieved despite lower sales volume - resulted from the impact of a further rise in sales prices and improved manufacturing efficiency.
Taken on a current basis, consolidated sales were down 1.4% for Pigments & Additives, down 0.3% for Building Materials, down 8.2% for Refractories & Abrasives, and up 2.9% for Ceramics & Specialties.
Also on a current basis, operating income was up 35.6% for Pigments & Additives, down 1.3% for Building Materials, down 14.3% for Refractories & Abrasives, and down 1.7% for Ceramics & Specialties.
Imerys said that further actions were being taken to improve performance, which allowed the group to expect growth in second-half net income from recurring operations on the same scale as the first six months of the year.
ENDS