Low & Bonar warns on recovery
LOW & BONAR, the flooring and plastics group that is without a chief executive until the autumn, today warned that there has been no pick-up in its markets and said first-half underlying profits went into reverse.
The group, which has high hopes for forthcoming trials of its new product Flytex, a lightweight floor-covering for aircraft, reported pre-tax profits for the six months to the end of May of £3.8m against a £3.3m loss last time when the company took a hit for the shutdown of its UK plastics factory.
Operating profits were down 7% at £3.9m after a similar fall in turnover to £79m. The interim dividend is held at 2.5p.
Phil Reeder resigned last month as chief executive amid concerns that his heavy programme of restructuring was not bearing fruit. He is to be replaced by Paul Forman of Unipart although Low & Bonar admitted today that Forman cannot join for a few months yet.
