30 June 2011 – final results
Results for the 53 weeks ended 30 April 2011 have been released. As anticipated sales were down and like-for-like sales were down 11% with like-for-like sales from continuing operations down 14.5%. Various figures were released in terms of earnings given the changes in the structure of the business. More importantly, underlying net debt was £170.7m at the period end and with £220m of bank financing secured until September 2013 the dark clouds which had formed above the company have faded a little for now. Nevertheless, there is a long road to recovery ahead and we rate the shares as a HOLD.