Pilkington plc “remains on track with its strategy and is delivering on its promises”, said Chairman Sir Nigel Rudd on 27 May 2004, as the UK glass major issued full-year results for fiscal 2003 to 31…
Pilkington plc “remains on track with its strategy and is delivering on its promises”, said Chairman Sir Nigel Rudd on 27 May 2004, as the UK glass major issued full-year results for fiscal 2003 to 31 March 2004. While turnover was unchanged at GBP 2.8 billion, operating profit from group businesses went up to GBP 179 million from GBP 175 million; profit before goodwill amortisation, exceptional items and taxation on a like-for-like basis rose to GBP 151 million from GBP 145 million; earnings per share before amortisation of goodwill and exceptional items increased to GBP 0.074 from GBP 0.065 (plus 14%); basic earnings per share increased to GBP 0.062 from GBP 0.054; free cash flow (before dividends, acquisitions and disposals) increased to GBP 207 million from GBP 135 million, a record cash performance; net debt decreased by nearly one quarter in the year, from GBP 861 million to GBP 664 million; the final dividend was GBP 0.0325 , maintaining GBP 0.05 in total for the full year. Sir Nigel welcomed the performance, saying “This is a strong set of results that shows Pilkington achieving management“s objectives. Our focus on keeping down costs has enabled Pilkington to report substantially maintained profits despite challenging conditions in some of our biggest markets. Operational and manufacturing efficiency improvements achieved over the past few years have resulted in a record cash performance – our prime objective for this stage of our strategy. Group borrowings were reduced by 23% over the year. Pilkington remains on track with its strategy and is delivering on its promises.” In his statement on the results, Sir Nigel noted that “as anticipated, challenging conditions continue to prevail in most of the markets in which the Group operates.” He highlighted the strong contribution made by the Automotive business, “where organisational and operational performance improvements have helped offset price pressures”. On the other hand “Building Products“ results in Europe were affected by generalised price weakness, though outside Europe, Building Products“ results continued to improve”. The sale of Pilkington Aerospace has “concentrated management“s focus further on the core Building Products and Automotive businesses”. Sir Nigel said a unified Building Products Europe business, encompassing both “upstream“ and “downstream“ operations has been established, while the reorganisation of the Automotive business has been completed with the creation of a single global organisation serving both the Original Equipment (OE) and Automotive Glass Replacement (AGR) sectors. In North America, the “Step Change“ programme to bring the businesses there up to the levels of the rest of the Group, has now been completed, “with the predicted annual benefits achieved”. However, Sir Nigel said the group “is determined to maintain its competitive edge and programmes have been launched over the past year to ensure that the Group stays ahead through further reductions in overhead costs and improved efficiency”.