Carr's Milling Industries PLC - Interim Results

Carr's, the agriculture, food and engineering group, has announced it's results for the 26 weeks to 1 March 2008 which are substantially ahead of the comparable period of the 26 weeks to 3 March 2007 and appreciably ahead of budget.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue up 45.9% to £161.87m
• Pre-tax profit up 45.0% to £5. 17m
• Earnings per share up 45.8% to 44.6p
• Interim dividend per share up 9.1% to 6.0p

Commercial Highlights

• Agriculture increased its operating profit by 56.9% to £4.02m on revenue up 45.1% at £118.82m and also reported a post-tax profit in associate and JVs up 46.5% at £0.98m. All four of Agriculture's related activities - animal feed manufacture, fertiliser blending, agricultural retailing and oil distribution - performed well.

• Food increased its operating profit by 21.0% to £1.11m on revenue up 57.9% to £39.68m. The improved result reflected two flour price increases and a cost reduction programme. The underlying trends in profitability for Food are encouraging.

• Engineering's operating profit was down 16.0% at £0.49m on revenue down 14.7% at £3.30m. The Board is confident of a satisfactory full-year outcome for Engineering.

Richard Inglewood, Chairman, stated "Our positioning in speciality products, particularly in the Agricultural market, is driving increases in both margins and sales, whilst food price inflation is enabling us to recapture much of the lost margin in our Food business. These factors combine to give us a high degree of confidence in the full year".

Richard Inglewood continued, "Improved farm incomes are benefiting our business. We are selling more products at better margins in the UK and seeing encouraging trends in our overseas Agricultural markets. The Agriculture division will continue to drive the performance of the Group. A more stable backdrop in Food will further enhance profitability. The trends are positive for the second half of this year and beyond".