Final Results

MITIE Group PLC 17 July 2000 MITIE Group PLC PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2000 GROWTH CONTINUES - Pre-tax profit up 32% to £19.2m (1999 - £14.5m) - Turnover up 31% to £346.5m (1999 - £264.4m) - Total dividend per share up 25% to 2.0p (1999 - 1.6p) - Earnings per share up 25% to 8.1p (1999 - 6.5p) - Margin improved David Telling, Chairman, reports 'We remain committed to being a growth company provided always that it is associated with quality clients and quality earnings. MITIE is determined to be the best in everything it does. The current year has started well and your Directors are confident that once again we will produce a satisfactory result.' Notes: MITIE: Management Incentive Through Investment Equity. ACTIVITY: MITIE Group PLC provides Support and Building Services to the owners and occupiers of commercial and industrial premises. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: On 17 July 2000 David Telling, Chairman, MITIE Group 020 7772 2592 PLC John Urquhart, PR & Marketing, MITIE 020 7772 2582 Group PLC at Merrill Lynch International 020 7772 1000 (switchboard) Subsequently - MITIE Group PLC, Head Office 01934 862006 EXTRACTS FROM CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT Financial Overview I am pleased to report that your company has had another good year. Pre-tax profits have increased from £14.5m to £19.2m, an increase of 32%, and earnings per share from 6.5p to 8.1p, up by 25%. Turnover increased by 31% from £264m to £347m, and your Directors are proposing a final dividend of 1.1p making a total of 2p, an increase of 25%. This leaves the dividend covered four times. New Companies In addition to the four new Access Systems and Engineering Services companies mentioned in my last statement, we have started MITIE Business Services Ltd in London which provides mail room and reprographic services to major companies within the M25. While we have made no significant acquisitions during the year under review, since the year end we have acquired the assets of Roofing Services Ltd, forming MITIE Roofing Services Ltd, located in the Midlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire. The management has subscribed for £45,500 of equity and loan stock, representing an equity interest of 30%. We have also purchased, for £2.8m, 60% of The McCartney Group Ltd whose principal activity is the supply and installation of contract fire protection in the United Kingdom. The balance is subject to management earn-out according to normal MITIE practice. We have additionally started two new businesses within Engineering in niche markets in the pharmaceutical industry and in cleanrooms, which are required for the computer manufacturing, medical and food processing industries. Segmental Analysis Activity Turnover Turnover Pre-Tax Pre-Tax Pre-Tax Pre-Tax £'000 £'000 Profit Profit Profit Profit 2000 1999 £'000 £'000 Margin % Margin % 2000 1999 2000 1999 Building 210,462 148,132 10,442 7,693 5.0 5.2 Services Support 136,052 116,323 8,798 6,815 6.5 5.9 Services 346,514 264,455 19,240 14,508 5.6 5.5 Building Services The Building Services Division consists of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Services, Property Services, Access Systems and MITIE Lindsay Ltd. It has made excellent progress with a 42% increase in turnover. This translates into a pre-tax profit increase of 35.7%, albeit at slightly lower margins than in the previous year. The Engineering discipline has continued with its policy of selective tendering and has secured approximately 50% of its work through partnering and negotiation rather than competitive tendering. The largest project completed was for Credit Suisse First Boston, valued at £7m. This was the flagship contract in the London fit out sector which continues to be buoyant and in which your company has a good forward order book. Contracts have been secured during the period for BT, Crown Estates, British Aerospace and ICL. Further contracts were secured with Cine UK, Cannon Leisure, Showcase Cinemas and several retailers including Woolworths, Primark and others. Following the restructuring and re-branding of the regional companies, Property Services settled down to a good year with satisfactory increases in turnover, profit and net margin. The award of the decorating contract for all DSS properties throughout the UK with Trillium produced work valued at over £1m in the year under review. This should yield further opportunities in the next financial year. Repeat business has been won from Rolls Royce, the Universities of Bristol and Warwick, the Home Office, HM Prison Service, Philips, Glasgow Rangers FC and numerous local authorities and housing associations. We are proud to be able to add CGU, Chivas Distillers, Coventry University, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and First Great Western to our client list for the first time. The Access Systems discipline has consolidated its position as a national access provider through an active market penetration policy. MITIE Powered Access Ltd now operates from six locations around the country. Markets have seen a recent softening of rental rates although machine utilisation remains high. MITIE Generation Ltd, which hires and sells non-mechanical access equipment, improved margins through broadening its product range and the rental business sustained growth in line with budgets. It will continue to look at developing new products for sale and hire in an industry increasingly driven by Health & Safety requirements. The scaffold contracting arm continues to gain market share through its new businesses, whilst the southern operation, having moved to new locations, has increased both its turnover and profitability. It has recently won a major contract to provide a temporary roof at Norwich Castle. MITIE Lindsay Ltd contributed its first full year to the Group's figures and produced its expected level of profit. A new company has been formed, MITIE HydroCat Ltd, specialising in the use of HydroCatT equipment and a substantial investment has been made in the purchase of the environmentally friendly Ultra High Pressure water jetting machines for use on ships, oil tanks and similar large structures. Throughout the year under review the major contract on the flight deck of HMS Ark Royal continued satisfactorily, with all deadlines being met. The contract also included containment and painting. The refits of HMS Sceptre and HMS Spartan were completed and major work continues on other submarines as well as the under-bridge access scaffolding contract for the upgrade of the Tamar Bridge. Forward orders have been won for both the Royal and French Navies and HydroCatT continues to work in Rotterdam for merchant shipping and commercial enterprises. Support Services The Division consists of Cleaning, Catering, Security, Engineering Maintenance, Managed Services and our most recent addition, Business Services. Turnover increased by 17% and pre-tax profit by 29%. This was achieved through a creditable increase in margin from 5.9% to 6.5% for the full year. Cleaning continues to be one of our most important core businesses and since its inception has grown to become the fourth largest provider in the UK. Cleaning's major new successes within the year included additional contracts from Rolls Royce for their English plants, WHSmith, Scottish Widows, Yorkshire Bank, John Smiths, McKinsey & Co, Halifax, Hampden Park Stadium, London Eye and Microsoft, the last being cross-referred by Engineering Maintenance. We continue to encourage our clients to move to full-time, rather than part-time, cleaning which provides a better standard of service and value for money for them, career prospects for employees and helps us to overcome the problems associated with employing large numbers of part-time staff. The Engineering Maintenance discipline continues to perform well. The contracts listed as having been won at the interim stage have all been started successfully and two further MOD contracts, each in excess of £500,000, have been added at RAF Coltishall and RAF Neatishead. In the retail sector, a nationwide contract for Wilkinson's hardware stores has been secured and started, together with one for Whiteleys of Bayswater at the London Shopping Centre which complements those held at Brent Cross and Thomas Neals. A major success of the year was the award of a five year contract at London City Airport. This has an annual value of around £1m and was won in close co-operation with MITIE Cleaning who were the incumbent contractors in their specialisation; a further good example of the fruits of the drive for inter-company co-operation. Catering and Security are developing satisfactorily allowing us to increase the range of services we can offer our clients. Catering renewed its high profile MOD contract with 29 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, where levels of service received warm appreciation from the Commanding Officer. Managed Services continues to develop and has secured new contracts for Bristol Myers Squibb's UK HQ at Hounslow as well as five regional offices for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. The company also won a long term contract for Global Crossing's 'Telehouse' for telecom and dot com occupants at the old Financial Times building in Docklands. Managed Services has been at the forefront of accelerating the Group's cross-selling initiative and is now bundling services with 25 Group companies from both Divisions. This is in line with our anticipation of market needs and the trend is expected to continue. MITIE Business Services Ltd was launched in January, but did not contribute to profits in the year under review. Quality MITIE Cleaning (North) Ltd's public sector team was the overall winner for the best-cleaned premises in the education sector in the year's Golden Service Awards. Its work at Oldham Sixth Form College was recognised both by the judges and the client, who renewed the contract for a second five year term. Conclusion MITIE Group PLC is more than just a commercial company. It has an element of social and economic vision that provides what is still probably a unique opportunity for men and women with ambition, talent and motivation to build a successful business within a supportive framework. MITIE is determined to be the best, quality company in everything it does. We realise that this needs not only the dedication of the present generation of senior management but also a clear plan for the future. We are continuously addressing this challenge in order to provide for a smooth transfer of responsibilities when the time is appropriate. A clear indication of this approach is our sponsorship of more than 40 of our middle managers through a Business Development course at Henley Management College. Meanwhile we remain committed to being a growth company provided always that it is associated with quality clients and quality earnings. The current year has started well and your Directors are confident that, once again, we will have a satisfactory year. DAVID M TELLING Chairman MITIE Group PLC Group Profit and Loss Account (Unaudited) for the year ended 31 March 2000 2000 1999 £'000 £'000 Turnover 346,514 264,455 Cost of sales (266,711) (204,270) Gross Profit 79,803 60,185 Administrative expenses (60,315) (45,555) Operating Profit 19,488 14,630 Interest (248) (122) Profit on Ordinary Activities Before Taxation 19,240 14,508 Taxation on Profit on Ordinary Activities (6,080) (4,676) Profit on Ordinary Activities After Taxation 13,160 9,832 Minority interest (2,067) (1,134) Profit for the Financial Year 11,093 8,698 Dividends - equity (2,751) (2,166) Retained Profit for the Financial Year 8,342 6,532 Earnings per Ordinary Share - basic 8.1p 6.5p - diluted 8.0p 6.5p MITIE Group PLC Group Balance Sheet (Unaudited) as at 31 March 2000 2000 1999 £'000 £'000 Fixed Assets Intangible assets 4,283 2,367 Tangible assets 39,090 30,672 43,373 33,039 Current Assets Work in progress and stocks 17,511 13,760 Debtors 56,855 43,482 Cash at bank and in hand 2,102 8,294 76,468 65,536 Creditors - due within one year (75,964) (64,718) Net Current Assets 504 818 Total Assets less Current Liabilities 43,877 33,857 Creditors - due after one year (661) (4,451) Provision for liabilities and charges (1,566) (1,092) 41,650 28,314 Capital and Reserves Called up share capital 6,851 6,761 Share premium account 7,067 5,222 Revaluation reserve (524) (552) Profit and loss account 19,506 11,192 Equity Shareholders' funds 32,900 22,623 Minority interest 8,750 5,691 41,650 28,314 MITIE Group PLC Group Cash Flow Statement (Unaudited) for the year ended 31 March 2000 2000 1999 £'000 £'000 Net cash inflow from operating activities 17,781 23,230 Return on investments and servicing of finance Interest received 159 445 Interest paid (492) (449) Interest element of finance lease rentals (14) (21) (347) (25) Taxation UK corporation tax paid (6,556) (3,632) Capital expenditure (359) - Payments to acquire intangible fixed assets (17,777) (14,399) Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets 1,993 1,196 Receipts from sales of tangible fixed assets (16,143) (13,203) Acquisitions and disposals Payments to acquire subsidiary undertakings (218) (3,727) Net (Overdraft)/cash acquired with (8) 683 subsidiary undertakings (226) (3,044) Equity dividends paid (2,451) (1,877) Cash(Outflow)/inflow before financing (7,942) 1,449 Financing Issue of ordinary share capital 1,402 1,785 Net unsecured loans received 267 207 Capital element of finance lease rental (104) (210) payments Repayment of unsecured loans (94) (82) 1,471 1,700 (Decrease)/Increase in cash in the period (6,471) 3,149 MITIE Group PLC Net cash inflow from operating activities (Unaudited) 2000 1999 £'000 £'000 Operating profit 19,488 14,630 Depreciation 8,603 5,888 Amortisation of intangibles 859 34 Profit on sale of tangible fixed assets (727) (401) (Increase) in work in progress and stocks (1,452) (2,491) (Increase) in debtors (18,597) (7,295) Increase in creditors 9,607 12,865 17,781 23,230 NOTES: 1. Dividend The Directors are recommending a final dividend of 1.1p per Ordinary Share, making a total dividend for the year ended 31 March 2000 of 2.0p per share. If approved at the Annual General Meeting, the final dividend will be paid on 2 October 2000 to Shareholders on the register on 8 September 2000. 2. Earnings Per Share Earnings per share are calculated by reference to the profit after tax for the financial year of £11,093,000 (1999: £8,698,000) and on the weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue during the year of 136,163,653 (1999: 133,963,928). 3. The consolidated profit and loss, consolidated balance sheet and cash flow statement have been prepared on a basis consistent with the accounts for the year ended 31 March 1999. 4. The Annual General Meeting will be held at The Stable Block, Barley Wood, Wrington, Bristol, BS40 5SA, on 14 September 2000 at Noon. 5. The financial information set out above does not comprise the company's statutory accounts. Statutory accounts for the previous financial year ended 31 March 1999 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The auditors' report on those accounts was unqualified and did not contain any statement under Section 237(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 1985.

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