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Financial Results for the 52 Weeks ended 1 September 2007
Operating profit of £293.3m, up 1.6% from £288.6m.
Total sales up 5.2% at £1,858.7m from £1,767.3m last year. Like for like sales up 2.1%.
Gross margin up 0.2% versus last year.
EBITDA of £354.4m, up £8.9m from £345.5m last year.
Closing bank debt of £770.7m, down £177.4m from £948.1m last year.
No dividend has been declared.
Commenting on the announcement Sir Philip Green said: "I believe the small improvement in profitability, and the 2% like for like sales growth, represent a very creditable performance when set against a background of one of the worst "non summers" in many years.
In spite of the poor weather the Brands continue to be managed in an efficient way. Their focus has been on maintaining clean stock positions by working with our extensive supplier base, to ensure speed to market and newness of product for the customer. Our efficiency has resulted in excellent cash generation, which enables us to continue to invest funds in both refurbishments and new space.
All the Brands are well positioned to grow both in the UK and internationally. In the UK we have already committed to open in excess of 300,000 square feet of trading space in the coming year and internationally we are working with our franchise partners to open a further 70 outlets.
Like for like sales and trading margins are up 1% for the first 7 weeks of the new financial year.
I would like to thank all the people at Arcadia for their hard work and commitment and all our customers for their continued loyalty."
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Notes to the Financial Information
The impact on operating profit and EBITDA of the 53rd week last year was £12m, and for turnover the impact was £33.8m.
The operating profit of £293.3m (2006: £300.6m) is before charging goodwill of £17.5m (2006: £17.5m) and after £12.5m of other finance income (2006: £10.7m) resulting in a statutory operating profit of £263.3m (2006: £272.4m).
The financial information set out in this document has been extracted from the audited consolidated accounts of Taveta Investments Ltd and does not constitute full accounts (within the meaning of Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985). Full accounts, which have received an unqualified audit report and did not contain any statement under Section 237 of the Companies Act 1985, will be filed with the Registrar of Companies on 25 October 2007.
