Simonds Farsons Cisk plc - Full Year Results

Turnover of the Farsons Group during the twelve months ended 31 January 2004 increased by 4.8% to Lm24.7 million. The breakdown of the different categories of turnover show that revenue from the brewing, production and sale of beer and branded beverages increased by 0.5% to Lm15.9 million, the importation and sale of beverages saw an increase of 15.7% to Lm5.5 million, the revenue from the operation of food retailing showed a 9.9% improvement to Lm3.1 million, whilst turnover from property management increased by 19.4% to Lm209,000. The Group's operating profit remained largely unchanged at Lm1.8 million with profit before tax at just over Lm1 million (2003: Lm1.095 million).

Group profit before taxation but taking into consideration minority interest shows a slight increase to Lm1.115 million (2003: Lm1.091 million). Profit after tax for the twelve months ended 31 January 2004 amounted to Lm2.6 million, significantly higher than the Lm1.038 million of January 2003. This is due to a favourable tax effect resulting in a write-back of
Lm1.5 million as a result of the Company’s eligibility, as from year of assessment 2004, to benefits available under the Business Promotion
Regulations, 2001.

The Directors have recommended the payment of a final dividend of Lm514,000 equivalent to 2c05 per share,. These dividends are payable out of tax-exempt profits. Coupled with the interim dividend of Lm90,000 or 0c35 per share recently paid, the total net dividend for the year amounts to Lm614,000 or 2c4 per share, which represents an increase of 33.3% over the dividend paid
last year.

The Group's total assets increased marginally to Lm32.4 million with shareholders funds increasing by 17.1% to Lm14.7 million as at the end of January 2004 giving a book value per share of 57c1.

Commenting on the results Group Chief Executive Louis A. Farrugia said, "the year’s results have been influenced by a good first six months for the parent company and by a difficult second half-year for the group due to a downturn in demand from the hotel and restaurant sector".