Norcros continues recovery

16th Apr 2010 15:58

Tiles and Triton showers manufacturer Norcros says trading is continued to improve in the last few weeks of its financial year. Revenues should rise from £154.2m to £169m in the year to March 2010. Trading profit should be flat at £7.1m but last time's pre-tax and pre-exceptional profit of £2.9m will be turned into a loss of £2.5m. That is better than the £4.9m loss forecast. There will be an exceptional charge of £2.5m for the retail store reorganisation in South Africa and a £6m write-off of Greek assets. Net debt has been cut from £45.8m to £16m by the end of March 2010. That was mainly down to December's £27.7m fund raising. Norcros is doing well in the UK but it is dependent on levels of building and refurbishment so the outlook is uncertain. South Africa has proved tougher and building activity has slumped. A new management team has made progress in improving the business. The figures for the year to March 2010 will be published on 22 June.