Norish back in the black with €200,000 profits

DIVIDENDS: Cost cutting and improved sales helped cold storage and warehousing group Norish return to profit in the six months to end December, giving pre-tax profits of €0.2 million for the full year, down from €3.3 million for 2000.

But the group reported a one cent loss per share for 2001 compared with previous year earnings of 28.9 cents.

The shares closed unchanged at 75 cents.

Despite the loss per share, shareholders are to get a final dividend of four cents per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 5.27 cents, unchanged on 2001.

Dr John Teeling who has recently built up a 4.75 per cent stake in the company described the results as "a strong performance". Stating he was "very happy" with the dividend, he said he would increase his stake if the opportunity arose and would consider using Norish as a shell company for his Cooley whiskey operation.

He said he considered change was inevitable at Norish, "change in direction and change in ownership".

Other parties have used the recent Norish share price weakness to build stakes, including former Goodbody stockbroker Mr Tom Cunningham (about 4.75 per cent) and Kappa Alpha, a Goodbody private client investment vehicle, raised its stake from 3 per cent to 5.4 per cent.

Bank of Ireland nominees are understood to hold around 17 per cent, while other new value investors may hold about 10 to 12 per cent, according to Dr Teeling.

Norish chief executive Mr Paul Byrne refused to comment on the stake building.

"All I see is people who want to invest in Norish. They are free to do that," he said.

Describing the second half improvement as steady, Mr Byrne said trading was comfortable and he was cautiously optimistic for recovery in the current year.

Norish reported a second-half pre-tax profit of €0.5 million following its first half loss of €0.3 million.

The dividend has been maintained as a statement of confidence in the future of the business, he said, rejecting any suggestion that it was linked to the recent stakebuilding.

Capital investment of more than €1.2 million last year has resulted in increased operational efficiency and this will continue this year to bring expansion through better use of existing assets, according to Mr Byrne.