Adare business development director Robert Whiteside said the group had won some significant deals throughout the year, which was helped by synergies between the groups companies and its supply chain partners.

The results for the year to the end of April 2003 showed operating profits up 2% to 19.4m, while sales for on-going operations were up slightly to 180m.

On a like-for-like basis group sales were down 3%, but Whiteside said this was a result of the disposal of two businesses, William Caple and Quorum

Profit margins were nudged up by 0.5% to 10.8%, despite tough market conditions.

During the year the group rebranded eight of its subsidiaries in a bid to bring consistency to its sales offering and increase its market presence in the UK.

The re-branding, Whiteside said, was a case of Adare shouting from the rooftops that it was continuing to move forward.

Adare also reduced its debt by 12m since the MBO in 2000, and is aiming to further reduce this by between 5m-10m in the current financial year.

Whiteside said this had and would continue to be achieved by good cashflow management; retaining tighter control of working capital; and by using the money from deals to re-duce debt.

Story by Andy Scott