The Anglo-Australian industrial conglomerate BTR Plc, which is undergoing restructuring, is expected to report lower profits this week.
BTR, which has 1,000 businesses across the world, is expected t…
The Anglo-Australian industrial conglomerate BTR Plc, which is undergoing restructuring, is expected to report lower profits this week. BTR, which has 1,000 businesses across the world, is expected to report a 1996 pre-tax profit of between UK 728 million and UK 1.25 billion. The company, which has already completed two thirds of its planned divestments, made a pre-tax profit of UK 1.503 billion in 1995. Following recent disposals, BTR said in December it planned to compare its 1996 performance with pro-rata 1995 sales of UK 7.7 billion and operating profits of about UK 1.4 billion. BTR“s chief executive, Ian Strachan, appointed early last year to streamline BTR, set out a comprehensive plan in September to address the company“s cash flow problems. BTR aims to achieve further growth by concentrating on its core industrial manufacturing and engineering operations and sell off underperforming activities. The company warned late last year that the strong pound would have some negative impact, but also forecast that its trading performance in the second half of the year would be better than in the first.