RNS Number:8404R
Walker (Thomas) PLC
07 November 2003


                                                                 7 November 2003

                                   Thomas Walker PLC

                                   Chairman's Statement




At previous Annual General Meetings, I have given shareholders a clear view of
the Board's strategy to restore the Company to profitability and to provide a
platform for future expansion in order to make a shareholder's investment less
dependent on a very narrow and very mature facet of the textile industry.



The first outline plan I shared with you was in 1999 and since that time, the
trading results of the Company have been turned round from a loss of #211,742 in
1998 to a profit of #197,666 in the past financial year.



This is during a period of contracting markets in which we operate and falling
sales price thresholds.



With the recent move to Kings Norton, the Company has completed the first stage
of its overall strategy - namely - to restore Thomas Walker to ongoing
profitability as a pre-requisite to achieving something more fundamental.



In this, certain key elements had to be achieved :-


1       To vacate St Paul's Square before it became a financial liability.

2       To ensure that the Birmingham operations would be transportable and would survive on relocation.
        (This in many ways has been the limiting factor with timings - and I am particularly grateful for
        all the planning and layout work, which has been done behind the scenes); and

3       To complete the actual relocation. (This has gone remarkably well and with a minimum of unforeseen
        problems).



At this stage, as we pause to gather breath, I would like to record the positive
spirit and the constructive energy, which all our employees have put into
completing the relocation.



The sale and purchase of buildings have been but two elements of the overall
relocation project, which, as I have already said, will be concluded and summed
up in the accounts for 2003/2004.



This means that the Board will now able to give its attention to the more
onerous task of diversifying through acquisition.  We already have some target
areas in mind, but I am sure, you will understand when I say that it is not in
anyone's interest to divulge our hand at this stage.



Of course the motivation for this new stage is economic - that is to make our
capital assets work harder for the shareholders and to avoid the waste of
avoidable tax charges which would result if the proceeds from St Paul's Square
were not re-invested in qualifying capital.



Economies of scale should also result through spreading central management and
general services over a wider operational base.



If we review today's businesses, the main feature in our core fastenings trade
is the fact that the temporary respite, which I had expected this time last
year, has not materialised in practice.



In fact distribution has become even more diffused as yet another wave of
migration has taken place in garment manufacturing (as I have mentioned in the
Chairman's Review in the Annual Report). This reflects the unrelenting quest for
the lowest labour costs, the best tax breaks and the most favourable capital
incentives.



It is clear that in garment fastenings, we will have to be constantly on the
move to keep in touch with customers and that we will have to be fast and
flexible to take advantage of the slightest failing of our international
competitors.



We are presently developing new variations in the style of fastener to meet the
preferences of local markets.



All our products are now fully specified and controlled.  We are considering
extending ISO9002 accreditation, which is already operative in the South East
Asian factory, to our Birmingham operations now that relocation has been
completed.



The new generation of attaching presses has been completed with our
pre-production model of the fully automatic version. This was well received when
it was demonstrated in Cologne earlier this year.



Within manufacturing, we have shed our preoccupation with the building and can
now concentrate on the technical status of the production machinery, which we
have brought to Kings Norton, and the development of automation. Without this
more products will migrate to South East Asia.



Thomas Walker's personal identification (or ID) trade has hitherto been
essentially UK oriented. Of late changes and opportunities have developed on the
Continent of Europe where a greater usage is developing and where a more direct
linkage is now required between manufacture and major users or distributors.



Later this month, Thomas Walker will exhibit at the Paris trade fair and
European development is a declared objective for the ID trade.



Finally, and to repeat what I have already said the main objectives for the
forthcoming months are modernisation in our manufacturing and the acquisition of
a compatible enterprise where synergy will start to yield economies of scale.



I hope to be in a position to report good progress this time next year.



Bryan C Knight




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

AGMNKOKBABDDPDK