Ransomes wins support

RANSOMES, the heavily indebted lawn-mower maker, has secured support from its banks lasting until March 1995, writes Robert Cole.

Gearing has spiralled up to 450 per cent from 300 per cent - largely because the company's asset base was eroded by retained losses.

For the year to 31 December, Ransomes lost pounds 10.8m, including pounds 5.2m on ordinary operations and pounds 5.6m on exceptional costs.

Most of the pounds 5.6m exceptional cost was incurred reorganising the business and making redundancies.

Ransomes' operating position also worsened. Profit before tax and interest was pounds 5.3m against pounds 8.1m previously so the company failed to cover its interest bill.

Peter Wilson, formerly with BTR, leads a new management team at Ransomes. He was in charge for one month of the last financial year and said future prospects were brighter. He added that the group was studying options for refinancing and a debt-for-equity swap could not be ruled out. It has pounds 75m of borrowing.

There is no dividend. The shares were unchanged at 20p.