AGM Statement
06 Juni 2003 - 2:31PM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:0231M
Morgan Crucible Co PLC
06 June 2003
CHAIRMAN'S AGM STATEMENT
6 June 2003
At today's Annual General Meeting of the Morgan Crucible Company plc, the
Chairman, Dr. Bruce Farmer, made the following statement:
"We stated in our Preliminary Statement in March that we continued to view the
immediate future with caution and were not anticipating any significant upturn
in overall customer demand in the short term. However, we believe that trading
will be in line with our expectations despite continuing weaknesses in the
automotive, industrial, aerospace and semi-conductor markets.
Our restructuring programme as announced in February 2002 is also on track both
in terms of anticipated savings and costs. Possible future restructuring
actions, other than those in the existing plan, are being carefully evaluated
and prioritised and will be initiated at a rate commensurate with the Group's
financing capacity.
We recently announced the sale of six of our coatings businesses in the USA and
our Superconductor business in Germany and these proceeds of approximately #32m
will be used to reduce our borrowings.
I should like to advise you that a circular has just been sent to Convertible
Redeemable Third Preference shareholders telling them of our intention to redeem
those preference shares at par at the end of July which will amount to
approximately #28.2m.
This is also an appropriate time for me to advise you that I am planning to
retire by the end of the year and the process of identifying my successor is
well under way. When a decision has been reached we shall announce it."
For further information, please contact:
The Morgan Crucible Company plc
Victoria Gould Tel: +44 (0)1753 837237
Group Communications Manager
Finsbury Group
Rupert Younger Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7251 3801
Charlotte Hepburne-Scott
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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