Announcing the preliminary results on 10 March, John Talbot, executive chairman of Johnson, said that the board’s current intention is to resume dividend payments “as soon as appropriate” and subject to continued satisfactory trading, it intends to declare a 2009 interim dividend.
Group revenue, excluding costs recharged to customers, fell by 8% to £253.6m, while net debt is reduced to £78.5m from £168.5m.
Trading overall for 2008 was satisfactory, given a deteriorating UK economy, said Talbot. Johnsons Apparelmaster had a successful year despite challenging market conditions while Stalbridge Linen Services returned to profitability in the second half of the year.
“Drycleaning will continue to be affected by the lack of confidence in the high street. However, the actions taken towards the end of 2008 have resulted in a reduction in the weekly costs of the business of £4.0m (6.0%), on an annualised basis, at present levels of activity,” he said.
