Findel resilience impresses market

7th Jun 2011 08:48

Shares in Findel, the home shopping group behind the cleaning products brand Kleeneze and supplier of education supplies, moved ahead after it said a resilient performance left it well-placed for the future, despite a fall in profits.In the year to 1 April, pre-tax profits slipped to £7m from £11.7m the previous year on revenues down to £532.6m from £547m. "These results show a remarkably resilient performance from our businesses against a difficult consumer backdrop and the unavoidable disruption caused by the long period of financial uncertainty that the group has been through," said chief executive Roger Siddle.Findel's year was plagued by the discovery of accounting irregularities at the education supplies division followed by an emergency debt refinancing in July.The decline in sales was due to weak consumer confidence, uncertainty over public sector budgets and inventory shortages arising from cash constraints, said Findel."The current year has started well and the group is trading in line with expectations," the company said. "Whilst the external environment remains challenging, we are confident that we are following the right path to achieve improved shareholder returns over the medium term."---RG