9 December 2013 – final results
The group has announced its final results to 30 June showing sharp reductions in both revenues and pre-tax profits. Given the problems at the company, these are largely irrelevant although for the record revenues fell to £107.1m (2012: £117.7m) and underlying pre-tax profit fell to £9.5m (2012: £21.4m). Of more relevance has been the news that the company has put itself up for sale and most of the non-executive directors have resigned. There is speculation that H & T Group, another AIM quoted group, is interested in buying the company although it is possible that the EZ Corporation, the large US group that owns 29.97% of the group may also be interested. Obviously, there is no guarantee that any bid will be forthcoming and the company remains close to its borrowing limits. However, we hope that a third party will be interested in acquiring the group and our recommendation therefore remains as HOLD.