British Polythene Industries (LON:BPI) (BPI, 229p, £60.68m) Interims to June 2010 has seen sales increase to £260.8m (£231.4m) reflecting higher volumes and passing on increased raw material and other costs, no gross profit or margin information was released by the group. However operating profits fell to £12.2m (£13.7m) due to rising raw materials but a significantly lower interest charge of £1m (£1.8m) left underlying PBT at £11.2m (£11.9m) with adjusted EPS of 27p (28.05p). The group also reported a net £3.5m gain on the sale of the Stockton site post costs associated with the closure of the Brampton site. Net debt fell to £49.5m (£52.2m at the year end) with 2 further properties (potentially worth £2.5m) already for sale while the pension fund deficit increased to £68.9m against £56.9m at the Dec year end). The group reported an increase in interim DPS to 3.65p (3.5p). Raw material processes have eased somewhat in August. The group has continued its investment strategy with a 25% increase planned in cap exp for the year as it invests in high quality printing line for food industry packaging. We still have some concerns on future sales of silage wrap (farmers are buying in stock in anticipation of a shortage of hay due to the weather) and the debt but this is healthy performance. The group appears well on line for profits in excess of £16m or EPS of 40p – potentially more.

Clarity Commerce Solutions (LON:CCS) (CCS, 37.5p, £15.54m) has appointed 2 MDs, one for GB and one for France, as well as a trading update that includes a contract for ClarityLive with Debenhams Plc (LON:DEB) for use as a centralised appointment diary in their personal shopping and health and beauty services, the rollout of ClarityLive to other Merlin Entertainment locations following a successful implementation at it Gardaland amusement park, the on-going roll-out at 225 Pret-A-Manger sites with 75 completed, a contract for the use of ClarityLive at 16 sites within the Lee Valley Regional Park and the successful roll-out at 180 Focus DIY stores. 

Hydrodec Group (LON:HYR) (HYR, 8.25p, £29.85m) Interims to June 2010 saw revenues increase to $8.2m ($4.5m), reflecting higher volumes of SuperFine but also price increases recovering raw material inflation. Gross profits ended at $3.7m ($2.3m), a margin of 45.1% (51.1%) while admin costs increased to limit the benefit to the…

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

Already have an account?
Login here