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Sales and profits dip at Haynes

01.02.07 Philip Jones

Motor manual publisher Haynes has reported a drop in both sales and profit in the six months to 30th November 2006. The group, which last week sold Sutton Publishing after having already closed its French business, saw turnover on continuing operations fall from £16.1m to £14.5m, with operating profit down to £3.1m, from £4.3m the year before.

The firm actually made a loss of £892,000, compared to a profit of £2.5m a year earlier, after closure costs in relation to its French subsidiary of £0.5m, and a £2.3m loss following the disposal of Sutton. The loss of the combined operations during the six month period was £0.1m.

John Haynes, chairman of the group, said: "Sales of UK automotive repair manuals continued to perform below expectations and against the comparable period as car owners deferred repair and maintenance work and key customers maintained a tight control over inventory levels. This was particularly evident during the first quarter of the financial year and whilst sales in the second quarter were also behind the prior period, the shortfall was not as marked as that of the first three months. As a result, sales ended the period down 13% against last year."

However, the Haynes Book division had a very strong second quarter and ended the period 22% ahead of the first half of 2005/06. "I indicated at our a.g.m. that we could see a further decline in trading performance this year and this continues to be our view," Haynes added.

Financial haynes Philip Jones

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