Pre-Close Trading Statement

RNS Number : 3976J

Johnson Service Group PLC

30 June 2011

 



                                                                        30th June 2011

Johnson Service Group PLC

Pre-Close Trading Statement

The Board expects to achieve an overall result which is in line with its expectations for both the first half and the full year.

Textile Rental

The Textile Rental division has continued to perform strongly in the first half, in line with our expectations.

Slightly higher revenue, due to a combination of new sales wins and increased activity from within continuing accounts, has been offset by the anticipated cost increases within the supply chain.

Despite ongoing cost pressures, we expect to see a continuing strong performance from this Division in the balance of the year.

Facilities Management

Divisional revenue and operating profit has continued to benefit from the PFI contracts acquired mid - 2010.  The potential order pipeline for this Division has been strengthened considerably over the past year resulting in a number of contract wins.  These are now starting to generate income and we remain confident about the prospects for this Division.

Drycleaning

We expect Divisional operating profit to be slightly ahead of the same period last year. Like for like sales are expected to be overall some 1% down but these mask considerable weekly fluctuations including the benefit of a normal weather pattern in January 2011 compared to the snow of the previous year.

We introduced new services to enhance our laundry offering to almost half of our locations during May and June and we anticipate that this, together with a continuing focus on controlling costs, will enhance the results of the Division in the second half.

Net Debt

Net debt at the end of June is expected to show a significant reduction from the £59.5 million at December 2010. As reported in March 2011, we received a tax repayment of £5.8 million plus interest in February 2011 which has reduced our net debt position at June 2011. This amount remains subject to agreement with HMRC.

We anticipate announcing the results for the first half of 2011 in mid to late September 2011.

Enquiries:

Johnson Service Group PLC
John Talbot, Executive Chairman	Yvonne Monaghan, Finance Director
Tel:  [phone]	Tel:   [phone]

Threadneedle Communications

Graham Herring/John Coles

Tel: [phone]

Investec Investment Banking
David Flin	Martin Smith
Tel:  [phone]	Tel:  [phone]

 

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