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GUS plc Interim Results for the six months ended 30 September 2004

18 November 2004

Strong financial performance

  • 15% increase in profit before amortisation of goodwill, exceptional items and taxation to £406m (2003: £354m)

  • Profit before tax increased to £323m (2003: £247m)

  • 11% increase in basic earnings per share before amortisation of goodwill and exceptional items to 28.9p (2003: 26.0p)

  • Basic earnings per share 20.5p (2003: 15.3p)

  • 13% increase in interim dividend to 9.0p (2003: 8.0p)

  • 10.4% post-tax return on capital in the 12 months to 30 September 2004, showing continued improvement

Record profits again at Argos, Experian and Burberry

  • Argos Retail Group : sales up 10% and profit up 13%

  • Experian : sales up 15% and profit up 13% for continuing activities at constant exchange rates

  • Burberry : sales up 14% and profit up 22% at constant exchange rates

Further initiatives to enhance shareholder value

  • Portfolio reshaping continues : IPO of 46% stake in Lewis Group completed; further Experian infill acquisitions; Burberry share repurchase programme of about £250m

  • £67m of GUS £200m share buyback programme completed

Sir Victor Blank, Chairman of GUS, commented:

“GUS has once again achieved record half-year profits. We have continued to invest across the Group to further enhance shareholder value. I would like to thank everybody at GUS for contributing to these excellent results.”

John Peace, Group Chief Executive of GUS, commented:

“In the first half, we delivered double-digit sales and profit growth at constant exchange rates in each of our main businesses. While not underestimating the current challenges in some of our markets, we have clear strategies for growth in each of our businesses and are confident of the strength of their competitive positions.”

Enquiries


GUS

John Peace Group Chief Executive 020 7495 0070
David Tyler Group Finance Director  
Fay Dodds Director of Investor Relations
 

Finsbury

Rupert Younger 020 7251 3801
Rollo Head

There will be a presentation today at 9.30am to analysts and investors at the Merrill Lynch Financial Centre, 2 King Edward Street, London EC1A 1HQ. The presentation can be viewed live on the GUS website at www.gusplc.com. The supporting slides and an indexed replay will also be available there later in the day.

There will be a conference call to discuss the results at 3.00pm today (UK time), with a recording available later on the website. All relevant GUS, Burberry and Lewis Group announcements are also available on www.gusplc.com.

GUS will issue its Third Quarter Trading Update on 13 January 2005. Its preliminary results for the year to 31 March 2005 will be announced on 25 May 2005.

Certain statements made in this announcement are forward looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any expected future results in forward looking statements.

View the full press release in PDF format (220 KB).

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