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29th August 2003
Half yearly/preliminary final report (Appendix 4E)
Dear Sir/Madam,
We herewith attach the Preliminary Final Statement and Dividend Announcement for the year
ended 30 June 2003 which is in the process of being audited.
As advised in our recent Stock Exchange releases, Lemarne had a very successful turnaround
year culminating in the sale of the Richardson Pacific Limited (“RPL”) which
resulted in a once off profit before tax of $10 million for our 62% owned subsidiary Lemvest
Limited.
As previously forecast, Lemarne recorded an operating profit before tax of $15.4 million, a
$20 million improvement on the previous corresponding period. Net profit after tax
attributable to shareholders was a record $9.4 million which resulted in an EPS of 57 cents,
compared to a negative 17 cents the previous year.
In 2002/03 revenues decreased by 8% to $123 million. This decrease was largely due to the sale
of RPL in March 2003.
In 2003 Pacific Composites’ sales increased by 12% to $34.6 million. This was achieved by
concentrating on emerging markets in the building and construction and wind energy industries,
whilst some traditional markets, in particular the telecommunications sector, were depressed.
Pleasingly EBIT increased 88% to over $2 million despite unexpectedly large cost increases in
insurance and some petrochemical based raw materials.
In Australia, sales remained the same as last year due to a weaker second half resulting from
a lack of major projects.
In the U.K. sales increased by 25%, boosted by an innovative new bridge project. The Clacton
plant had a particularly good year with strong sales of products for the transport and
infrastructure sectors. Pultrex, the small machinery manufacturing business in the UK had a
better year following its losses and restructure last year. As planned this unpredictable
business was divested in June 2003 which will allow management to devote all of its energies
in future, to growing our core pultrusion business in the UK and Europe.
Lemtronics, our Malaysian based subsidiary, returned to profitability despite taking some
significant charges for obsolete inventories and assets. The balance sheet has been
strengthened significantly by focussing on reducing net inventories, which have fallen by
close to 47% and better cash management. As a result the company ended the year with cash
surpluses of over RM 1.3 million versus net borrowing of RM 5.2 million in the previous year.
This subsidiary has also invested heavily in its future to the tune of RM 1.5 million, mainly
in the upgrade of machinery and equipment and has a significant investment program for the
forthcoming year.
C10 Communications (“C10”) continued to perform well and achieved a higher than
budgeted net profit on reduced sales revenue. The pleasing results were largely due to higher
sales of C10’s two leading products, ISDN NT1s and ADSL Filters.
The net tangible asset backing per share at 30 June 2003 was $2.24 (2002: $1.85).
The Company’s balance sheet remains sound and following the sale of RPL, the Group is
cashed up with net funds on deposit of over $30 million at 30 June 2003.
Directors have declared a final fully franked dividend of 7.5 cents per share payable on 31
October 2003 to those shareholders on the register at 7 p.m. on 24 October 2003.
S.L. MASON
Company Secretary
29 August 2003
Click here to download Appendix 4E in pdf format ( 580k
)
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