LYONS Irish Holdings, 75 per cent owned by Unilever and the focus of a bid for the minority shares, has reported a virtual standstill in profits for the year to the middle of last August.
Lyons changed its financial year end last year, so yesterday's consolidated results for the year to mid August are listed against the 76 week period on mid-August, 1995. But comparing like with like on a pro forma basis, the accounts show that pretax profits rose from £6.03 million in 52 weeks to August, 1995, to £6.15 million in the 52 weeks to August, 1996.
Lyons's operating margins fell fractionally, but with a margin of 22.7 per cent for the year to mid-August, Lyons remains a cash cow and the group's cash in the bank totalled £51.6 million compared to £48.6 million six months ago.
Unilever, whose 323p per share bid for the minority shares was rejected overwhelmingly two months ago, has still made no move to increase its offer and the current unconditional offer remains open indefinitely. Neither Unilever nor the minority shareholders are earning a fortune from their dividends from Lyons, with a final dividend of f2.8p compared to pro forma 12.35p for the previous 12 month period.
It has been suggested that to overcome the board's resistance to its current offer, Unilever as the controlling shareholders in Lyons might have proposed a special dividend together with the final dividend. This has not been done.
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