It'll Take 18 Months To Get Pmp Right
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday April 8, 2003
Commercial printer PMP has given itself 18 months to deliver stronger earnings from its core printing business and to rebuild its credibility with investors.
It went some way down that path yesterday when its new chief executive officer former All Black captain David Kirk delivered some long-awaited good news on earnings, job cuts and debt, after releasing details of a strategic review two months ahead of schedule.
The company, whose share price was slashed by a third in November when it downgraded its interim profit forecast, has upgraded its expectations for earnings before interest and tax for the year to June 30, 2003, to as much as $51 million.
Shares in the company yesterday surged 7c to 53c.
``The company has gone through a period in the last year of rationalising what it owned and paying down debt and has emerged as a focused heat-set web printer and media services business," said Mr Kirk.
``We are in a 12 to 18-month focus to deliver much stronger earnings out of our core business and during that period, of course, we will be working with and building the strategy for future growth but that is not the primary focus right now."
The strategic review, which involved mostly job cuts and with more to come, is expected to add $30 million of earnings to PMP's underlying business in 2003-04.
The company is now expecting EBIT for the year to June 30, 2003, of $50 million to $51 million, before any significant items. Market expectations range between $48 million and $52 million.
In 2003-04, the company expects redundancy payments to contribute heavily to a one-off cost of $12.5 million.
Chief financial officer Richard Allely said he expected net profit for 2003 to be below 2002 because PMP had sold its UK printing business and would no longer benefit from those earnings and restructuring costs would be booked this year.
PMP posted a bottom line profit of $27.13 million for 2002, on earnings before interest and tax of $90.71 million.
© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald
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