Currency gain boosts Attwood

ATTWOOD'S interim results have been bolstered by a pounds 5.1m currency gain that enabled the international waste management group to announce a rise in pre- tax profits from pounds 13.9m to pounds 15.5m under FRS3.

Group operating profit fell by 9 per cent to pounds 15.7m in the six months to 31 January 1992. But Ken Foreman, chairman, said: 'Early indications as to the full- year outcome look promising.

'Traditionally we benefit from an uplift in profits during the second six months of the financial year, and I see no reason why this trend should not continue.'

The best performance came in the US waste management and recycling collection business, where revenues increased by 16.8 per cent and operating profits by 10 per cent.

But the US recyclables processing and marketing division plunged into losses of pounds 2.8m against profits last time of pounds 900,000 - a performance described by Mr Foreman as exceedingly poor.

Operating profits in the UK tumbled by 24.4 per cent as a downturn in the quarry and landfill divisions offset a better performance by waste collection.

Attwood said that although UK waste management remained highly competitive, it perceived good opportunities for earnings growth with the introduction of new environmental legislation and the continuing privatisation of municipal waste services.

Earnings per share fell to 3.7p (4.36p), reflecting a 25.7 per cent increase in the weighted average number of shares in issue. Attwood expects that dilution to fall to 10 per cent at the year-end.

The interim dividend was held at 1.75p. The shares closed unchanged at 134p.