GUS gives investors details of Burberry demerger

GUS, the UK retail and services group, finally unveiled details of its long-anticipated demerger of the fashion company Burberry yesterday.

Shareholders will receive 305 Burberry shares and 859 new GUS shares next month for every 1,000 old ones they own.

The move, which is subject to shareholder approval, is set to go ahead on 13 December, and will see GUS finally part company with its remaining 65 per cent share in the fashion group. After floating 25 per cent of Burberry's shares three years ago, the company sold down another 10 per cent a year later before announcing this summer it would complete the demerger before the end of 2005. The group has said it plans to hive off Experian, its financial services company, but analysts believe it will wait until conditions improve in the retail market.

Yesterday's announcement was made alongside the publication of GUS's interim results, which revealed a 7 per cent fall in group pre-tax profits during the six months to the end of September. The biggest fall in profits came from ARG, the holding company which owns Argos and Homebase, the group's two main UK retail operations. Profits here fell £59m. GUS said about £20m of this was due to one-off costs including a major hit from the shift to IFRS accounting.

The group said part of the reduction in its overall profit figure was also down to the sale of Lewis, the South African arm, this year. On a like-for-like basis, profits would have been down just 4 per cent, it said.

Although sales at Argos were up slightly over the period, sales at Homebase, the DIY retailer, fell. Margins were flat at Argos and up slightly at Homebase.

The group figures were boos-ted by the performance at Experian, where sales were up 29 per cent and profits leapt by more than one-third.

John Peace, the chief executive, said: "I am delighted with the performance of Experian which earned £200m profit for the first time in a half year. It has delivered its seventh consecutive six-month period of double-digit sales and profit growth, reflecting its unique global reach and broad product offer. Although profit at ARG has been impacted, as expected, by the tough UK retail environment, we have gained share and maintained or improved gross margin in the first half. We continue to invest in Argos and Homebase."