Fletcher King FY09 Pre-tax Profit Plunges, Warns Of FY10

7/16/2009 8:09 AM ET

(RTTNews) - Thursday, property services provider Fletcher King Plc (FLK.L: News ) announced preliminary results for fiscal 2009, reporting a sharp decline in pre-tax profit, impacted by lower revenue and exceptional charges. Further, the company provided a cautious outlook for fiscal 2010.

For the year ended April 30, pre-tax profit plummeted to GBP 1 thousand from GBP 778 thousand last year.

Final results included impairments, exceptional items and the loss on discontinued operations, which amounted to GBP 888 thousand. On December 19, 2008, the company disposed its subsidiary Fletcher King Howard Limited to its management team for a nominal sum.

Profit before tax, impairments and exceptional items declined to GBP 414 thousand from GBP 613 thousand in the prior year.

Loss for the year was GBP 432 thousand or 4.69 pence per share, compared with a profit of GBP 550 thousand or 5.96 pence per share a year ago.

Profit from continuing operations plunged to GBP 43 thousand or 0.47 pence per share from GBP 572 thousand or 6.20 pence per share in the previous year. Loss from discontinued operations widened to GBP 475 thousand or 5.16 pence per share from GBP 22 thousand or 0.24 pence per share last year.

For the year, revenues declined to GBP 3.13 million from GBP 4.53 million a year ago.

Looking ahead, David Fletcher, chairman, stated, "2009/2010 will not be an easy year for us and the level of transactions is unlikely to be significantly higher than in the past year."

Further, the company proposed a final dividend of 1 pence per share, down from 1.75 pence per share last year. The dividend would be paid on September 25 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on August 28, 2009. The company noted that total dividend for this year will be 1 pence per share, lower than 3 pence per share last year.

FLK is currently trading at 30 pence per share, up 5.26%, on the London Stock Exchange.