Group: Group revenue from continuing operations is up by 13.9% to £533.8m and operating profit is up by 26.5% to £76.4m. Profit before taxation is up by 20.9% to £65.4m after providing for costs of £0.9m arising from the £80m return of value to shareholders, and a £2.4m adverse fair value adjustment on foreign exchange contracts (2006: £1.7m gain). Excluding these items, the group profit before taxation is up by 31.1%. Earnings per share from continuing operations are 15.89p, an increase of 21.2%. The directors are proposing a 20.0% increase in the final dividend to 5.34p, making a total for the year of 7.53p (up 20.0%), covered 2.1 times.
Net debt at the year-end was £104.0m, up £11.1m on last year principally due to the acquisition of Gray & Osbourn and an increase in home shopping debtors as a consequence of buoyant trading. Net interest payable on borrowings was £7.1m, covered 10.7 times. Gearing at the year end was 51% (2006: 38%) before the return of £80m to shareholders in March 2007.
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