TIDMACL
RNS Number : 1292M
Acal PLC
23 January 2009
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FOR RELEASE
7.00 AM
23 JANUARY 2009
ACAL plc
SECOND INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
PERIOD COMMENCING 1 OCTOBER 2008
Acal plc is today issuing its second Interim Management Statement for the year
ending 31 March 2009, which covers the period commencing 1 October 2008 to date
and includes trading for the nine months ended 31 December 2008.
Current trading
As we have reported in earlier statements, our markets have become increasingly
difficult over the last six months.
Although the Group's sales for the quarter ended 31 December 2008 were slightly
ahead of the corresponding quarter to December 2007, margins within the
Electronics Division were adversely impacted by the decline in sterling over the
quarter. Within the Supply Chain Division (formerly Parts Services), the new
management team has commenced the integration of Service Source Europe and is
working to resolve ongoing contract operating losses.
In light of current trading levels, one-off foreign exchange losses and the cost
of implementing further efficiencies, the Group result for the year ending 31
March 2009 will be below market expectations.
Following the net benefit from the sale of MessageLabs Group and the acquisition
of Service Source Europe Limited, the group retains significant net cash despite
increasing pressures on working capital.
With the appointment of Nick Jefferies as Group Chief Executive on 5 January
2009, we will be carrying out a comprehensive review of Acal's business and
strategy. The Board remains confident in the opportunities for the development
of the business.
The following material events or transactions, each of which has been previously
reported, impacted the Group during the period covered by this Interim
Management Statement.
MessageLabs Group Limited
The sale of MessageLabs Group Limited to Symantec was completed on 14 November
2008. The total consideration receivable by Acal for its 3.95% investment is
GBP16.2 million of which GBP15.1 million was received on that date. The balance
is retained in escrow and will be returned to Acal if there are no warranty
claims within a 12 month period.
Service Source Europe Limited
The acquisition of 75% of Service Source Europe Limited (SSE) was completed on
January 9 2009 for a consideration in cash of GBP1.85 million. In addition,
Acal subscribed for deferred shares in SSE with a total nominal value of
GBP346,625 in cash to enable SSE's preference shares to be redeemed.
For further information:-
+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------+
| Nicholas Jefferies Chief Executive | 01483 544500 |
| Malcolm Cooper Finance Director | 01483 544500 |
| Brian Coleman-Smith/James Verstringhe | 020 7367 5100 |
| Cubitt Consulting | |
+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------+
Notes to the Interim Management Statement
(a)This Interim Management Statement has been prepared solely to provide
additional information to the shareholders of Acal plc, as a body, in order to
meet the requirements of the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency
Rules.
(b) The Interim Management Statement may contain forward-looking statements
which:
§have been made by the directors in good faith based on the information
available to them up to the time of their approval of this statement; and
§should be treated with caution due to inherent uncertainties, which are beyond
Acal's ability to control or estimate precisely and include both economic and
business risk factors, underlying such forward looking information.
Notes to Editors:
Acal is a leading European value-added distributor providing specialist
design-in, sales and marketing services for international suppliers in the
fields of Electronic Components, Supply Chain Services and Medical and
Scientific products. Organised into three divisions, Acal has 15 principal
trading companies of which 8 are in Continental Europe and 7 in the UK.
Acal is now Europe's strongest multi-disciplined design-in electronics
distributor and has always differentiated its offering with a strong focus on
demand creation and a highly skilled technical sales force. Vertec Scientific,
which operates in both the UK and South Africa, represents leading manufacturers
in the field of bone densitometry, medical imaging and diagnostics. The Supply
Chain division provides spare parts to field services organisations and is a
supplier to virtually every leading company in that market.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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