Securicor upbeat after £37m writedown in US
SECURICOR sounded its first note of optimism for some time today when it said it expected better secondhalf performances from its core security business and its 50%owned distribution arm.
However, exceptional charges of £43.4 million dragged the group into the red in the first half.
The largest writedown was an expected £37.1 million goodwill impairment at United States aviation security business Argenbright, which is being nationalised by the US government following the terrorist attacks of 11 September.
That pushed the group from pre-tax profits of £13.9 million to losses of £22 million in the six months to the end of March.
Turnover grew by 41% to £716 million and the group said that normalised pre-tax profits rose by 13% to £30.3 million.
That underlying strength was emphasised by an 11% dividend rise to 0.72p on underlying earnings up from 2.9p to 3.3p.
The group said it still believes Argenbright, which it has effectively ring-fenced, should have no liability from the terrorist attacks and that it had substantial insurance cover.
In Britain, the cash handling business won a twoyear renewal of its contract with Tesco, its largest retail customer.
Securicor now runs more than 1000 of its own hole-inthe-wall cash machines and this network made its first operating profit.
The distribution business, which is jointly owned with Deutsche Post, saw its operating profits drop 39% to £ 2.8 million on almost unchanged turnover of £175 million.
Restructuring at rival Consignia has meant Securicor has managed to win several new British parcel contracts.
