Preliminary Results-Amendment

Smiths Industries PLC 18 September 2000 The issuer has made the following amendment to the Preliminary Financial Results announcement released 18th September 2000 at 07:08 am under RNS No 0661R. The dividend payment and record dates have been amended as follows: (Changes denoted by double asterisks** in text) If approved at the Annual General Meeting of the company, the final dividend on the ordinary shares will be paid on 13 December 2000 to shareholders registered at the close of business on 13 October 2000. The ex-dividend date will be 9 October 2000. As announced, the Annual General Meeting will be held at the company's head office, 765 Finchley Road, London NW11 8DS on Tuesday 14 November. Today's announcement of the preliminary results replaces the previously scheduled date for release of those results, 27 September 2000. All other details remain unchanged. The full corrected version is shown below. ------------------------------------------------------------------- SMITHS INDUSTRIES: PRELIMINARY RESULTS 2000 For the year ended 31 July 2000 2000 1999 Change Turnover £1.46bn £1.32bn +11% Operating profit * £276m £248m +11% Pre-tax profit * £266m £241m +11% Operating cash-flow £218m £195m +12% Earnings per share * 59.0p 53.5p +10% Total dividends 23.8p 21.65p +10% * before goodwill amortisation Commenting on the results, Keith Butler-Wheelhouse, Chief Executive said: 'We've succeeded in delivering growth above 10% for the sixth year in a row. All three businesses performed strongly last year, and we aim to keep it that way. Most of the gains came from our activities in North America, where we generated 60% of our profits. Looking ahead, there are exciting prospects in the aerospace, medical and telecoms sectors, and we are grasping the opportunities offered by each of them.' Further information: Russell Plumley: Tel: 020 8457 8203 Home: Tel: 020 8992 9751 Page 1 of 19 Smiths Industries: Preliminary Results 2000 In its preliminary results for the year ended 31 July 2000, Smiths Industries today reported an 11% increase in pre-tax profit, sales and operating profit. It is the sixth year in succession that the company has raised profits by 10% or more, and they have now doubled over that period. The major contributor to earnings growth last year was the organic development of the existing businesses. On pre-tax profit of £266m (1999: £241m) the company recorded earnings per share of 59p (53.5p), an increase of 10%. The Board has recommended a final dividend of 15.7p, giving a 9.9% increase in dividends for the year, totalling 23.8p (21.65p), and covered 2.3 times by earnings. Profits are reported before goodwill amortisation of £10m (£3m) on acquisitions made since 1998. Shareholders will be offered a scrip dividend alternative. Annual dividend increases have now been sustained by Smiths Industries for the past 30 years. From sales of £1.46 billion (£1.32bn), the company earned operating profits of £276m (£248m), with Aerospace, Medical and Industrial businesses contributing equally to the improvement. The overall margin on sales remained at 19%, with Medical one point above, Aerospace on the average and Industrial a point below it. The company made nine acquisitions during the year at a cost of £272m, to extend its market reach in aerospace equipment and in electronic components for wireless communications. In this period they contributed £7m to profits over and above their funding costs. On an annualised basis, these acquisitions are generating trading profits of around £30m on sales of £160m. Since 1994, Smiths Industries has spent close to £870m on acquisitions, largely funded from cash generated during that period. Strong cash generation continues to be a distinguishing feature of the company's performance. Last year, cash-flow from operations, measured after capital expenditure, reached £218m, a profit-to-cash ratio of 79%. Net debt stood at £285m at year end, representing less than a quarter of total shareholder investment, on which the company generated a 15% rate of return last year. The United States remains the company's most important market, and business there has continued to expand both organically and as a result of recent US acquisitions. Profits from US operations moved ahead by 30%. There are 34 production facilities and 8,000 employees of Smiths Industries in the US. Currency had minimal overall impact on these results, with gains from the dollar's strength negated by the euro's weakness. The dollar appreciated against sterling by 4% year-on-year, while the euro depreciated by 7%. The weak euro held back export margins and prevented UK profits from moving ahead. Exports from the UK were £278m. Within continental Europe, business was steady on a euro basis. The company invests heavily in the development of new technology, and R & D spending has continued to rise. Last year, total expenditure amounted to £144m, of which £80m was recovered directly from customers. The company-funded element increased by 19%, partly through the inclusion of programmes already underway in the acquired companies, and partly through being selected to develop next-generation avionics for future aircraft. The costs have been charged against profits for the year. The company is evenly balanced across its three areas of activity, with Aerospace providing 40% of profits, and Medical and Industrial each providing 30%. Industrial grew slightly faster than the other two last year, benefiting from the series of recent acquisitions in the field of telecom network components. World market conditions in each of these specialised sectors continue to generate a healthy demand for the company's products and services. Including the benefit of acquisitions, Smiths Industries Aerospace recorded sales and profits up 10% to £583m and £108m respectively, with margins unchanged at 19%. This was a year of transition, with deliveries to civil jet customers slowing as expected, and orders for military aircraft only just starting what will become a sustained upturn. The company is now supplying systems for new-generation combat aircraft including Eurofighter Typhoon, F-18 Super Hornet, F-22 Raptor and the Longbow Apache helicopter, and delivery rates will increase over the next five years. Additionally, development contracts have been secured on programmes which will ensure long-term growth, including systems for both contenders in the US Joint Strike Fighter contest. In commercial aerospace, Smiths Industries Aerospace has maintained market leadership in Flight Management Systems, and is working with Boeing, Airbus (jointly with Sextant) and the major airlines on the introduction of more advanced flight management capabilities. Systems are being installed both on new-build and in-service aircraft, bringing operational benefits from better use of airspace in crowded skies. Two acquisitions were made at a combined cost of £173m from Invensys and BAE Systems. They have provided added competence in the area of aircraft utilities, enabling the company to offer an integrated package for the management and actuation of electrical equipment throughout the airframe. The chemical/biological detection business, Graseby Dynamics, experienced rapid growth, helped by the £9m acquisition of ETG in the US. However, the marine business, Kelvin Hughes, suffered from the depressed world shipping market. The Customer Service operation, providing support for airline and airforce users of the company's equipment throughout the world, has again performed very strongly. Its scope has been expanded by taking on the products of the recently acquired companies. Rather than simply providing repairs and spares, the future of the business is being built on long term Performance Based Logistics agreements to keep equipment operational for an agreed cost. On sales up 11% at £419m, Smiths Industries Medical Systems recorded profits up 12% to £86m, resulting in a margin of 20%. More than half of these profits, and most of the improvement, came from the US, where healthcare expenditure continues to rise. The Medical Systems business in the US has achieved success by focusing on highly specified devices and equipment, including procedural kits, which command a premium because they meet consultants' requirements more precisely than the bundled offerings of larger competitors. The US remains a highly competitive market for medical products, with powerful hospital purchasing organisations trading price reductions for valuable framework agreements covering all the hospitals in their group. Continuous productivity improvement has been the other contributor to the better performance. The establishment of a production facility two years ago in Mexico is now paying dividends. During the past year a number of additional product lines, involving high labour content, have been moved into this facility, which now employs 300 people. Product sterilisation will also soon be carried out nearby, with the benefit of reduced shipping costs. In recent years, the Medical Systems product range has been extended by acquisition of US businesses specialising in community and home care equipment. This has proved a profitable route for growth, not just within the US but also in international markets served by the company's worldwide medical distribution network. The ambulatory pumps of Deltec and the vital signs monitors of BCI are among those items that have established substantial export sales from the US. The larger product area of the Medical Systems business, both in the UK and the US, remains single-use devices used during critical and intensive care. Under the Portex brand, the company has a very strong position in the market for these products, used by anaesthetists and consultants as a matter of preference. Of those made in the UK, more than 70% are exported to national and private health systems throughout the world. Japan is one of the largest markets, and the distributor Japan Medico is performing well again, after successfully eliminating a stock overhang inherited when it became a subsidiary of Smiths Industries. On sales up 10% at £462m, the company's Industrial activities recorded profits up 13% to £82m, resulting in a margin of 18%. The improvement came from rapid growth in the existing Interconnect companies, a good initial contribution by the Interconnect acquisitions made during the year, and a strong performance by the ducting and hosing business within Air Movement. Looking first at Air Movement, the businesses making flexible ducting, hosing and heating elements performed well on both sides of the Atlantic, winning additional customers among the brand leaders in domestic equipment. On the other hand, the fans and ventilation businesses, mainly located in the UK, experienced difficult trading conditions: while Vent-Axia sustained its market leadership in fans for commercial premises, the larger, industrial ventilation products suffered reduced sales and profits. The Interconnect division now generates more than half of Industrial's profits, and that proportion is set to increase. The product range already included microwave cables, specialised conduit, high-integrity connectors, and protection devices against power surges and lightning strikes. Acquisitions during the year brought in four companies at a combined cost of £85m, adding microwave filters and connectors, resistors and attenuators, and transient voltage suppression systems. Among the assets is a plant in Costa Rica with the potential for more extensive utilisation. All these products are used for the interconnection of electrical and electronic systems in a wide variety of applications. Two sectors in particular offer significant opportunities at present: wireless communications infrastructure, and aerospace/defence equipment. Interconnect has long been involved in the second of these, and is currently benefiting from the upturn in new defence platforms already mentioned for the Aerospace division, of which Eurofighter Typhoon is one example. The wider involvement in communications equipment is more recent, and this is a market experiencing exponential growth. Interconnect provides devices for connecting and protecting the power and signalling circuits in mobile network base stations, microwave towers on business premises and similar equipment. The advent of next-generation wireless networks has caused a significant increase in installations of this type, and the demand for additional capacity will be sustained for a long period. The company's products offer proprietary solutions to complex installation issues and are used by customers including Lucent, Ericsson, Motorola, Nortel and Nextel. The benefits are already flowing through. The existing businesses serving the communications market improved their profits by a third last year, and the recent acquisitions have all performed better than forecast. Although still modest, with annualised sales of around $120 million, so far mainly in the US and in US export markets, this is an area of great potential for Smiths Industries. Smiths Industries gained momentum in all three business areas last year, and this has been maintained into the new year. With a positive outlook in the aerospace, healthcare and telecom markets, the prospects are for a continued strong performance from the underlying operations and further benefits from recent acquisitions, leading to a sustained increase in earnings for distribution to shareholders. **The Annual General Meeting of the company will be held at the company's head office, 765 Finchley Road, London NW11 8DS on Tuesday 14 November at 12.00 noon. If approved at the meeting, the final dividend on the ordinary shares will be paid on 13 December 2000 to shareholders registered at the close of business on 13 October 2000. The ex-dividend date will be 9 October 2000. By Order of the Board 18 September 2000 Alan Smith, Secretary Tabular information attached Profit and Loss Account Market and Geographical Analyses Summarised Cash-Flow Statement Summarised Balance Sheet Notes to the Accounts Five Year Review Note: In accordance with section 240 of the Companies Act 1985, this financial information is an abridged version of the company's full accounts upon which the company's auditors will be reporting and which will be sent to shareholders on or before 18 October 2000 and filed with the Registrar of Companies. These results have been prepared in accordance with accounting policies set out in the company's accounts for the year ended 31 July 1999, as amended by the latest accounting standards relating to the treatment of intangible assets and earnings per share. Smiths Industries: Preliminary Results 2000 CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2000 Before Goodwill Goodwill Year ended Amortisation Amortisation 31 July 2000 £m £m £m Turnover: Continuing operations 1385.7 1385.7 Acquisitions 78.0 78.0 ------ ------ ------ 1463.7 1463.7 Cost of sales (841.4) (841.4) ------ ------ ------ Gross profit 622.3 622.3 Operating expenses (346.4) (10.3) (356.7) ------ ------ ------ Operating profit: Continuing operations 259.7 (4.9) 254.8 Acquisitions 16.2 (5.4) 10.8 ------ ------ ------ Profit on ordinary activities before interest 275.9 (10.3) 265.6 Net interest (9.6) (9.6) ------ ------ ------ Profit on ordinary activities before taxation 266.3 (10.3) 256.0 Tax on profit (79.9) 1.6 (78.3) ------ ------ ------ Profit on ordinary activities after taxation 186.4 (8.7) 177.7 Minority interests (0.7) (0.7) ------ ------ ------ Profit for the financial year 185.7 (8.7) 177.0 Dividends (75.3) (75.3) ------ ------ ------ Retained profit for the year 110.4 (8.7) 101.7 ------ ------ ------ Earnings per share Basic 59.0p (2.8p) 56.2p Fully-diluted 58.7p (2.8p) 55.9p CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT COMPARATIVE FIGURES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 1999 Before Goodwill Goodwill Year ended Amortisation Amortisation 31 July 1999 £m £m £m Turnover: Continuing operations 1323.9 1323.9 Acquisitions ------ ------ ------ 1323.9 1323.9 Cost of sales (762.8) (762.8) ------ ------ ------ Gross profit 561.1 561.1 Operating expenses (313.6) (3.0) (316.6) ------ ------ ------ Operating profit: Continuing operations 247.5 (3.0) 244.5 Acquisitions ------ ------ ------ Profit on ordinary activities before interest 247.5 (3.0) 244.5 Net interest (7.0) (7.0) ------ ------ ------ Profit on ordinary activities before taxation 240.5 (3.0) 237.5 Tax on profit (74.0) (74.0) ------ ------ ------ Profit on ordinary activities after taxation 166.5 (3.0) 163.5 Minority interests (0.3) (0.3) ------ ------ ------ Profit for the financial year 166.2 (3.0) 163.2 Dividends (67.9) (67.9) ------ ------ ------ Retained profit for the year 98.3 (3.0) 95.3 Earnings per share Basic 53.5p (1.0p) 52.5p Fully-diluted 53.0p (1.0p) 52.0p ANALYSES OF TURNOVER AND PROFIT Market Analysis Turnover Profit 2000 1999 2000 1999 £m £m £m £m Aerospace 583.4 528.5 108.0 98.5 Medical Systems 418.8 376.2 85.5 76.0 Industrial 461.5 419.2 82.4 73.0 ------ ------ ------ ------ Ordinary activities before 1463.7 1323.9 275.9 247.5 goodwill amortisation ====== ====== Goodwill amortisation (10.3) (3.0) ------ ------ Operating profit 265.6 244.5 after goodwill amortisation Net interest (9.6) (7.0) ------ ------ Profit before taxation 256.0 237.5 ====== ====== Geographical Analysis Turnover Profit 2000 1999 2000 1999 £m £m £m £m United Kingdom 595.3 603.6 96.4 101.9 USA 751.7 612.2 161.5 124.3 USA $1187.7m $1004.0m $255.1m $203.9m Continental Europe 128.2 135.0 8.4 14.3 Other overseas 91.4 76.5 9.6 7.0 Inter-company (102.9) (103.4) ------ ------ ------ ------ 1463.7 1323.9 275.9 247.5 ------ ------ Goodwill amortisation (10.3) (3.0) ------ ------ Operating profit 265.6 244.5 ------ ------ SUMMARISED CASH-FLOW STATEMENT 2000 1999 £m £m Operating profit 265.6 244.5 Goodwill amortisation 10.3 3.0 Depreciation 38.4 35.6 Working capital movement and reorganisation (53.7) (39.7) ------ ------ Cash in-flow from operating activities 260.6 243.4 Capital expenditure (50.8) (50.4) Disposals 7.8 2.0 ------ ------ Operating cash-flow after capital expenditure 217.6 195.0 Tax paid (71.8) (70.4) Net interest paid - (8.1) ------ ------ Free cash-flow 145.8 116.5 Dividends (56.5) (37.0) Acquisitions and disposals (272.1) (93.7) New shares 8.3 9.1 Other (17.4) (5.5) ------ ------ Increase in borrowings (191.9) (10.6) Net debt - at 1 August 1999 (93.4) (82.8) ------ ----- at 31 July 2000 (285.3) (93.4) ------ ----- Further details of the cash-flow showing the analysis between cash and liquid resources is contained in note 9. SUMMARISED BALANCE SHEET 2000 1999 £m £m Fixed assets Intangible assets 328.8 91.5 Tangible assets 261.6 231.7 Net current assets Assets held for resale 7.0 Stocks 247.7 203.9 Debtors 409.9 351.3 Creditors (403.8) (358.5) ------ ------ 260.8 196.7 Net borrowings/cash (285.3) (93.4) Provisions for liabilities and charges (67.1) (68.0) ------ ------ Funds employed 498.8 358.5 ====== ====== Capital and reserves Share capital and share premium 199.0 169.5 Reserves 290.9 182.8 ------ ------ Shareholders' equity 489.9 352.3 Minority interests 8.9 6.2 ------ ------ Capital employed 498.8 358.5 ====== ====== NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS 1) Earnings per share are calculated on the weighted average number of shares in issue for each period: Basic Fully-diluted 52 weeks ended 31 July 2000: 315,011,488 316,580,140 52 weeks ended 31 July 1999: 310,932,199 313,490,677 2) Operating profit is after charging 2000 1999 £m £m Depreciation of fixed assets 38.4 35.6 Research and development expenditure 63.3 53.9 Year 2000 related expenditure 1.7 3) Taxation 2000 1999 £m £m Taxation on the profit for the year: UK corporation tax at 30% (1999 - 30.67%) 30.9 37.1 Double taxation relief (3.3) (3.2) ---- ---- 27.6 33.9 Deferred taxation 6.1 2.8 Overseas taxation 44.6 37.3 ------ ------ 78.3 74.0 ====== ====== 4) Stocks 2000 1999 £m £m Stocks comprise: Raw materials and consumables 89.5 66.2 Work in progress 79.2 67.5 Finished goods 93.0 83.5 ------ ------ 261.7 217.2 Less payments on account (14.0) (13.3) ------ ------ 247.7 203.9 ====== ====== NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS (CONT.) 5) Debtors 2000 1999 £m £m Amounts falling due within one year: Trade debtors 302.8 247.2 Amounts recoverable on contracts 31.2 29.6 Other debtors 5.7 5.4 Prepayments and accrued income 13.2 14.6 ------ ------ 352.9 296.8 Amounts falling due after more than one year: Other debtors 10.3 5.4 Deferred taxation 6.3 13.4 Pensions prepayment 40.4 35.7 ------ ------ 409.9 351.3 ====== ====== 6) Creditors 2000 1999 £m £m Amounts falling due within one year: Bank loans and overdrafts 107.8 112.1 Floating rate loan notes 4.5 4.6 Other loan notes 3.7 3.6 ------ ------ 116.0 120.3 Trade creditors 97.4 86.2 Bills of exchange payable 1.4 1.3 Other creditors 18.4 16.2 Proposed dividend 49.9 44.8 Corporate taxation 42.5 36.1 Other taxation and social security costs 9.8 9.2 Accruals and deferred income 141.7 132.0 ------ ------ 477.1 446.1 ====== ====== Amounts falling due after more than one year: 7.25% Eurosterling Bond 2016 147.6 8.34% Senior Notes 2002 66.7 61.7 Floating rate loan notes 3.2 4.6 Other loan notes 0.1 0.2 ------ ------ 217.6 66.5 Other creditors 42.7 32.7 ------ ------ 260.3 99.2 ====== ====== NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS (CONT.) 7) Borrowings and net debt Fixed borrowings Floating Total Total borrowings 2000 1999 Weighted average Interest Rate Years fixed Amount £m £m £m £m Currencies: Sterling 7.08% 16 151.2 7.7 158.9 13.0 US Dollar 8.34% 2 16.7 125.9 142.6 132.6 EMU participants 7.8 7.8 7.5 Japanese Yen 24.3 24.3 33.3 Other 0.0 0.4 ------ ------ ------ ------ 167.9 165.7 333.6 186.8 ------ ------ ------ ------ Cash and deposits 48.3 93.4 ------ ------ Net debt 285.3 93.4 ====== ====== Maturity On demand/under one year 3.5 112.5 116.0 120.3 1-2 years 0.1 0.6 0.7 2.3 2-5 years 16.7 52.6 69.3 64.2 Over 5 years 147.6 147.6 ------ ------ ------ ------ 167.9 165.7 333.6 186.8 ====== ====== ====== ====== 8) Provisions for liabilities and charges At 1.8.99 Exchange Profit & loss Acquisitions Utilisation At31.7.00 Adjustments account Provisions Releases £m £m £m £m £m £m £m Consolidated Post-retirement healthcare 26.5 1.9 1.5 0.4 (2.4) 27.9 Service guarantees and product liability 14.0 0.6 7.0 (0.5) 1.9 (5.3) 17.7 Reorganisation 9.3 0.2 2.8 (1.1) 0.9 (6.7) 5.4 Property 12.7 0.3 0.1 (1.5) 1.6 (1.8) 11.4 Litigation 5.5 1.3 (1.2) 0.7 (1.6) 4.7 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 68.0 3.0 12.7 (4.3) 5.5 (17.8) 67.1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) Cash-flow analysed between cash and liquid resources 2000 1999 £m £m Operating profit 265.6 244.5 Goodwill amortisation 10.3 3.0 Depreciation 38.4 35.6 Increase in stocks (13.9) (2.6) Increase in debtors (26.3) (28.1) Decrease in creditors (13.5) (9.0) ----- ----- Net cash in-flow from operating activities 260.6 243.4 Returns on investments and servicing of finance (8.1) Tax paid (71.8) (70.4) Capital expenditure (50.8) (50.4) Asset sales 7.8 2.0 Acquisitions and disposals (272.1) (98.7) Equity dividends paid (56.5) (37.0) Management of liquid resources 59.5 6.2 Financing: Increase in term borrowings 139.2 53.5 Loan note redemptions (1.6) (19.0) Share issues 8.3 9.1 ----- ---- Increase in cash 22.6 30.6 ===== ==== Reconciliation to net debt Net debt at beginning of period (93.4) (82.8) Net cash in-flow 22.6 30.6 Debt acquired with subsidiaries (3.0) Deposit acquired with subsidiaries 8.0 Loan note issues (net of repayments) 1.6 19.0 Increase in other borrowings (198.7) (59.7) Exchange variations (17.4) (5.5) ----- ---- Net debt at end of period (285.3) (93.4) ===== ===== 10) Acquisitions During the year under review the Company acquired the issued share capitals of Environmental Technologies Group (ETG), a number of businesses from Invensys plc, and Marconi Actuation Systems, Inc. (MASI) for Aerospace, and Sabritec, LEA International, Inc. (LEA),EMC Technology, LLC (EMC), AeroSonics, Inc., Venair Technik AG (Venair), and Florida RF Labs, Inc. (RF Labs) for Industrial. Details of the consideration paid, book values of retained assets at the dates of acquisition, and adjustments to reflect the Company's assessments of fair values are set out below. These fair values are provisional, and will be finalised in subsequent financial statements. Date of Consideration Goodwill Net acquisition Assets £m £m £m ETG 4.08.99 9.5 7.4 2.1 Invensys businesses 31.01.00 111.0 90.0 21.0 MASI 23.03.00 62.4 55.2 7.2 Sabritec 14.01.00 32.5 28.4 4.1 LEA 28.01.00 7.0 6.5 0.5 EMC 14.02.00 27.8 22.7 5.1 AeroSonics 31.03.00 3.3 2.4 0.9 Venair 31.03.00 1.4 0.7 0.7 RF Labs 1.05.00 17.2 12.3 4.9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 272.1 225.6 46.5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Book Value Revaluation Consistency Fair of accounting value policy £m £m £m £m -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fixed assets 23.3 (3.3) (2.4) 17.6 Assets held for resale 6.5 6.5 Stock 28.9 (1.9) (6.8) 20.2 Debtors 24.6 2.2 (0.3) 26.5 Creditors (12.5) (5.7) (1.3) (19.5) Provisions (4.0) (0.8) (0.7) (5.5) Taxation 0.7 0.7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net assets acquired 67.5 (9.5) (11.5) 46.5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goodwill 225.6 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Consideration 272.1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Satisfied by cash 272.1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In accordance with the provisions of FRS10 - Goodwill and Intangible Assets, the Company amortises goodwill arising on acquisitions after 1 August 1998 on a straight-line basis over a period of up to 20 years. The charge for the year was £10.3m. Goodwill relating to acquisitions up to 1 August 1998 was charged to Reserves. NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS (cont.) 11) Share premium account and reserves Share premium Revaluation Profit and account reserve loss account £m £m £m Consolidated: At 1 August 1999 91.1 3.3 179.5 Premium on allotments 28.6 (7.5) Retained profit 101.7 Exchange rate changes 13.9 -------------------------------------------------------------------- At 31 July 2000 119.7 3.3 287.6 -------------------------------------------------------------------- During the year the Company received £15.8m on the issue of shares in respect of the exercise of options awarded under various share option schemes. Employees paid £8.3m for the issue of these shares and the balance of £7.5m comprised contributions to the qualifying employee share ownership trust (QUEST) from undertakings within the Company. The trust has been included within the financial statements. 1,771,700 shares at market values totalling £13.7m were taken up by shareholders as a scrip alternative to cash dividends. FIVE YEAR REVIEW £m 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 Turnover 1463.7 1323.9 1198.5 1076.2 1008.4 Operating profit before amortisation 275.9 247.5 224.2 194.6 168.1 Net interest (9.6) (7.0) (6.1) (2.5) (2.7) Profit before amortisation and exceptional items 266.3 240.5 218.1 192.1 165.4 Exceptional items (0.5) 5.0 Profit before amortisation and taxation 266.3 240.5 218.1 191.6 170.4 Goodwill amortisation (10.3) (3.0) Profit after taxation 177.7 163.5 149.6 132.6 117.8 Minority interests (0.7) (0.3) (1.4) (0.9) Shareholders' equity 489.9 352.3 221.7 240.4 211.8 Shareholder investment 1314.8 1166.9 1032.0 934.3 860.0 Operating profit as a % of turnover 18.8 18.7 18.7 18.1 16.7 Taxation before amortisation and exceptional items (%) 30.0 30.8 31.4 32.0 33.0 Operating cash-flow after capital expenditure (£m) 217.6 195.0 203.6 161.0 151.2 Earnings per share (p) (before exceptionals and amortisation) 59.0 53.5 48.2 42.5 36.6 Dividends: per share (p) 23.8 21.65 19.65 17.85 16.20 Times covered: 2.3 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.2 Research & development 143.7 127.0 118.5 104.3 107.1 (of which, company funded) 63.3 53.9 48.8 48.2 50.0 Employees: (at year-end) UK 6900 7000 6900 6400 6500 Overseas 9600 7900 7200 6900 6300 Total 16500 14900 14100 13300 12800
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