News blog
Walker Greenbank
- BY: Andrew Hore |
- POSTED: 11/10/2009 |
Interior furnishings supplier Walker Greenbank is seeing some signs of improvement in its markets after a tough first half.
Revenues fell 12% to £29.1m in the six months to July 2009. The interim profits slumped from £1.72m to £568,000.
The Zoffany brand was hardest hit in the first half. This is because it is the most upmarket. The Sanderson brand held up well. The brands still made an operating profit of £2.3m, down from £3.09m. The manufacturing operations swung from an interim operating profit of £672,000 to an operating loss of £84,000. The second quarter was better and redundancies should help the second half performance.
Hedging the dollar meant that Walker Greenbank has not benefited from that currency’s recent weakness. This year’s rate is $1.88/£ and next year it is set to be $1.50/£.
Despite the fall in profits net debt was much lower than 12 months previously. Interest charges were seven times covered. The net debt was £6.73m at the end of July 2009 and it is on course to be £4.5m at the end of January 2010. The main bank facilities last until July 2010 with a £4m property loan lasting until July 2019.
Sales in September were higher than one year before and revenues are set to be higher in the second half than they were in the first half.
At 22.5p a share, Walker Greenbank is valued at £13.3m. The shares are trading on less than nine times prospective earnings for 2009-10.
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