Reduced borrowing helps Henry Jones

Press, 2 June 1977, Page 10

Reduced borrowing helps Henry Jones

A significant reduction in borrowing gave Henry Jones

(IXL), Ltd? Melbourne-based fruit canner, a group net profit of sAust34l,ooo in the six months to April 1. compared with a loss of $228,000 (previously. This was despite a fall of 113.3 per cent to $26.8M in sales and a drop of 1.4 per cent in trading profit to $1,843,000. However, interest payments fell $501,000 after the directors cut total borrowings from S3OM to SI3M. The depreciation provision

fell $16,000 to $527,000, and taxation fell $105,000 to ■ $44,000. Minority interests ’rose $26,000 of $47,000. Group net trading profit was $432,000 compared with a loss of $58,000 previously. The directors say that emphasis has continued on reducing capital employed — and borrowings — and that the full year will show further significant reductions. The apparent reduction in sales, shown above, arose because the previous period included the sales of the frozen foods and Tasmanian agencybusinesses, which were subsequently merged into other entities, and that on a comparable basis sales had marginally increased. The directors said they were particularly pleased with the improvement in the Australian food division which had shown a substantially higher contribution on low-er capital employed. In reviewing the profit outlook for the full year, the directors said that most of the profit is normally earned in the second-half and drew attention to the fact that the group net profit of $341,009 was very close to the $470,000 earned in the previous full year. The directors said this, together with performance against budget, lead them to believe results for the current year would show a substantial improvement over the previous year.