20 May 2015

UK MAIL GROUP plc

FINAL RESULTS

For the year ended 31 March 2015

Significant period of investment and transition

Highlights

·   Group revenues* up 0.8% to £485.1m (2014: £481.4m)

·   Group profit before tax* (before exceptional items) down 4.2% to £21.0m (2014: £21.9m), in line with previous guidance

·   Profit for the year from continuing operations of £15.9m (2014: £16.8m)

·   Statutory profit for the year £5.1m (2014:  £17.5m); net debt at year end of £5.2m (2014: net cash of £27.0m)

·   Final dividend increased 2.1% to 14.5p per share (2014: 14.2p), giving a total dividend increase for the year of 2.3% to 21.8p (2014: 21.3p)

·   Significant new Parcels volumes taken on in Q4 as a result of City Link collapse, leading to increased operational costs in short term due to capacity constraints

·   New Ryton Hub now operational and automation roll out commenced; expected to reach optimal efficiency by the second half of current financial year

·   Good progress with the further development of our product and service offerings, including imail and ipostparcels

·   Underperforming Pallets business closed during period

* Excluding UK Pallets which is treated as a discontinued operation

Guy Buswell, Chief Executive Officer of UK Mail, said:-

"After a strong period of growth, with the volume of parcels handled within our business doubling over the past five years, UK Mail is in the midst of a period of major investment and transition at a time when our markets are undergoing significant change.  All this has created some inevitable challenges but also significant longer-term opportunities.

"Our investment in a newly constructed, fully automated hub at Ryton near Coventry is the largest strategic development in UK Mail's history, bringing extra capacity and reducing operating costs across our business and setting us up very well for our next stage of profitable growth. 

"We see significant opportunities in both the parcels and mail markets, in part from the changing competitive landscape and our strong value-added positioning within it, and in part from the new initiatives we continue to pursue such as imail, imailprint, and the opportunity to expand significantly in the packets market.

"The first half of the new financial year will be challenging as we reposition our parcels business and manage the full transition to the new hub. This, together with the implementation and roll-out of the new automation, will result in performance for the year being more weighted to the second half than usual.

"The medium and long term outlook for the Group remain very positive."

For further information, please contact:

Introduction

After a strong period of growth, with the volume of parcels handled within our business doubling over the past five years, UK Mail is in the midst of a period of major investment and transition to cement our position as one of the leading players in our markets.  The focus of this investment is on continued product and service innovation and the development of a new fully automated hub which creates extra capacity and reduces operating costs across our business.

At the same time, our markets are undergoing significant change, with material movements in the competitive landscape, changes to consumer spending patterns and therefore the behaviour of retailers.  All this has created some inevitable challenges but it also presents real longer-term opportunities for UK Mail as one of the best invested and most competitive operators in our markets.

The move of our national hub and Birmingham head office to the newly constructed site at Ryton near Coventry is the largest strategic development in the history of our business.  The financial year just completed has been one of preparing for this physical transition, which is proceeding on budget and on schedule, albeit a lot of work remains in the next six months to complete this key process. 

We continue to benefit from our strong market position in our core businesses thanks to our efficient integrated network.  The collapse of City Link at the end of December 2014 presented us with the opportunity to take on significant additional parcels volumes.  This increase in volume in the fourth quarter took our parcel volumes temporarily above our current optimal operating capacity, resulting in above normal operating costs being incurred, as previously announced.  We expect this effect will continue until the automation roll-out is fully completed in September 2015.

Reported Group revenues for the year at £485.1m were up 0.8% compared to the previous year.  Adjusting for there being one less working day than in the previous year, underlying Group revenues increased by 1.2%.  Group profit for continuing operations (pre-exceptional) before tax decreased by 4.2% on the previous year to £21.0m. We estimate that each extra working day equates to some £0.5m of contribution.  Adjusting for this factor the underlying decrease in profit before tax was some 1.0%.

    Our Parcels business continued to deliver a satisfactory underlying performance, with good volume growth throughout the year.  This volume growth was partly driven by an increase in home deliveries related to online shopping, with a continuation of the mix change towards B2C that we have previously seen.  In the fourth quarter we achieved strong volume growth as a result of account wins following the demise of City Link.  

Our Mail business achieved another good increase in volumes, with our mail volumes increasing by 4.3% in the year, compared to a market that saw an overall volume decline of some 3%.  This volume growth was again driven by strong customer retention and new customer wins.  Our Mail business remains well positioned in its market with a healthy pipeline of new business opportunities.  We continue to see good progress from imail and our related new product innovations, and we have identified a particular opportunity for growth in Packets.

In our Courier business revenues increased by 2.0%.  This business has been undergoing a period of transition away from the traditional same-day courier operation towards an operation which provides specialist service support to our Parcels business, and this has impacted the performance for the year.  We would expect this business to develop well as part of our Parcels business going forward and it will be reported within the Parcels division in the future.

Our Pallets business had endured a challenging few years with revenue and profitability declining in an increasingly competitive market.  We took the decision in January 2015 to close this business, and it ceased operating in March 2015. This business has been treated as a discontinued operation in these results.

Our underlying cash generation remains strong.  We have invested some £36.1m in the new hub and automation during the year, however our cash levels have been carefully managed such that our net debt position at the year end was £5.2m (2014:  net cash of £27.0m).

The Board has proposed that the final dividend be increased by 2.1% to 14.5p (2014: 14.2p).  The total dividend for the year will increase 2.3% to 21.8p (2014:  21.3p) which is covered 1.39 times by the basic underlying earnings per share. 

strategy

Our strategy is to grow revenue and profitability by establishing a market leading position in our key markets of parcels and mail, with a clear focus on high service levels and network efficiency together with product and service innovation.  To do so, and to facilitate the future growth of the business, we are also creating additional capacity, both in our operations and in support areas.

High Service Levels

High service levels are a vital element for success in our industry.  Customers and recipients expect their consignments to be delivered to the agreed timescale without loss or damage.

We continue to introduce improvements to our business to further enhance the service we provide.

A key enhancement has been the implementation of our one-hour delivery window, confirming UK Mail as one of the industry leaders in the Parcels delivery market.  This provides customers with advance notification of the timing of a delivery, with the facilities to amend the delivery location and day, and we are also progressing alternative and innovative delivery options.

Network Efficiency

A low cost, efficient network is key to our market position.  This allows us to win and retain contracts at good profit levels in markets that continue to be very competitive.

The key factors in achieving this objective are:

An Integrated Network for our Parcels and Mail Businesses

This integration allows us to spread the fixed costs of our operation and also drive operational benefits.  The integrated nature of our network, which is unique in the UK, also allows us to offer services our competitors cannot match.  We have continued to progress this objective in the current year and have now fully integrated our Courier operation into our Parcels network providing further efficiencies and enhanced delivery options for customers.

Extensive and innovative use of I.T.

In our industry I.T. is a key differentiator.  We handle some 230,000 parcels each night together with some 11m mail items.  The ability to track the progress of these items through our network and to provide customers with information on this progress is vital, as is the provision of sophisticated solutions centred on the end-consumer experience.

In the year we have continued to invest in our I.T. infrastructure, increasing capacity and resilience.  We have also introduced new data services and information to the end-customer.  We are also enhancing our ability to support and drive innovation in our business.   During the year we appointed a new I.T. Director who has led the process of developing this vital aspect of our business.

Automation

Effective use of automated sortation is vital in our industry, to further reduce sortation costs and to increase capacity.  Having partially automated our operations in 2010, we handled some 20% of our Parcels volumes through automated facilities at our previous hub in Birmingham.

Following the move to the new Ryton hub with its new automated sortation equipment, we intend to increase the level of automated sortation to some 80% of our Parcels volumes.  We are taking action to amend the profile of the consignments we handle to make the best use of the automated parcel sorter.  There will however be an element of the consignments that we will continue to handle for customers that will not be compatible with automated sortation, normally on account of their size.  The ability to handle such consignments is a key differentiator for us compared to those competitors who are 100% automated.

Product and Service Innovation

The second key factor in our strategy is product and service innovation.  We are focussed on continuing to expand the size of the markets available to us and on increasing our share of these markets.  To do so we have introduced new and innovative products and services in both our Parcels and our Mail businesses.  This strategy is gaining valuable traction helping us to win new customers.

The key areas we are progressing are:

ipostparcels - a leading parcels collection and delivery service targeting the internet end- customer/small businesses

Retail Logistics - a parcel delivery service targeting the needs of retail businesses

imail - a market leading hybrid (web-to-print) postal service

imailprint - an internet based printing service, linked to imail, which can meet localised printing requirements

Packets - a packet collection and delivery service providing cost effective solutions in conjunction with Royal Mail's delivery service

Creating Capacity

The volumes of parcels delivered to businesses and consumer are predicted to increase, driven by the continued strong growth in online shopping.  We have the opportunity to benefit from this market growth together with the potential to grow our market share.

To manage this growth we need to grow the capacity in our operations.  We are taking actions in three key areas to achieve this:

New Hub/Network Capacity

Growing network capacity is vital as our core markets continue to show strong growth.  We are achieving this capacity growth through localised expansion of capacity where needed, together with the expansion achieved as a result of our new central hub at Ryton. The new hub is now live and we will have transferred all our Birmingham operations to the site by the end of this Summer.

This new hub together with increased automation of our parcels operations will significantly increase our central sortation capacity.

Innovation in Delivery Methods

To make the most efficient use of our delivery sites and vehicles, as well as to provide a range of delivery options to recipients, we are progressing a range of innovations in our delivery methods. These include deliveries throughout the day and evening, which make best use of our delivery sites and vehicles as well as providing flexibility for customers. We are also progressing alternative delivery and collection options such as retail stores and locker boxes.

Creating Support Capacity

The number of transactions processed in our business on a daily basis, including parcels and mail, has increased significantly in the last three years.  We have enhanced our support capacity to manage this growth, with a key emphasis on our I.T. infrastructure.  We are now progressing plans to create significant further capacity to support the future growth capability of the business.

Strategy Summary

Over the past three years, very good progress has been made in developing the business to its current position, with a clear focus on high service levels, network efficiency and product innovation. The result is a robust operational platform and strong competitive positions in our chosen markets.  The new products that we have introduced have gained valuable traction, and we have become a significantly more consumer-focused business.  The benefits can be seen in the good results we have achieved over that period.

We have spent the last two years preparing for the transition of our business as we move to the new hub and introduce advanced automation to our parcels business, which to date has been achieved to plan and on schedule.  This transition is now well underway and, while we still have work to do, we expect to complete this transition by the end of the first half of the current financial year.

This major transition, combined with the other improvements we are making in product and service innovation, together with the creation of capacity, will provide the platform for further growth over the coming years.
 

Results

The results can be summarised as follows:

* - excludes exceptional items

Revenue and operating profit from continuing operations are analysed as follows:

Parcels

Revenues in Parcels, which comprises the Group's business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) and international parcel delivery service, were up 3.7% to £228.1m (2014: £219.9m). On an adjusted basis, taking account of the one less working day compared to last year, they increased by some 4.3%.

We have achieved volume growth in both the B2B and B2C market segments in the period overall, with Parcels average daily volumes increasing by some 7.4% compared to last year with an on-going volume mix change towards the lower margin B2C segment. 

Volume growth in the final quarter was particularly strong at some 12.9%, largely due to the volume we gained as a result of the collapse of City Link.  While clearly positive for the business for the future, this has caused some inevitable challenges as we continue to digest the new client volumes and establish, based on profitability, the volumes we want to retain for the longer term. 

This has taken our parcel volumes temporarily above our current optimal operating capacity, resulting in above normal operating costs being incurred in the fourth quarter of the financial year.  While this will be resolved when the new hub becomes fully operational, this impacted the parcels operating margin and operating profit for the year.

The Parcels operating margin reduced to 9.4% for the period (2014: 10.2%), resulting in a decrease in the Parcels operating profit to £21.4m (2014: £22.4m).  On an adjusted basis, taking account of the one less working day, we estimate operating profit declined by some 2.2%. 

We continue to make good progress with our product innovations in this division.  Today, ipostparcels represents one of the lowest-cost and most user-friendly online collection and delivery services available in the UK.  Revenues and profits grew well for this business, and we continue to invest in further enhancing the product.

Key to our parcels market position is the provision of value added services that customers increasingly demand.  Our enhanced next day delivery service, which offers advance-notice one-hour delivery and collection windows, is now fully operational.  This now also includes our new 'You're Next" texting service and 'Follow my parcel' facility. This added functionality will give our Parcels business an excellent opportunity for further customer acquisition, especially within its growing B2C customer base.

The immediate priority for our Parcels business is to complete the transfer to the new hub, and then roll out automation to our target levels. This will allow us to increase capacity, while reducing operating costs and further increasing service levels.

Mail

Mail revenues decreased by 1.9% to £240.5m (2014: £245.3m).  On an adjusted basis, taking account of the one less working day compared to last year, they declined by some 1.6%.  This decline however was largely caused by a mix change towards Customer Direct Access (CDA) mail, which carries a substantially lower revenue per item.  This mix change is largely the result of our Mail business winning a very significant public sector CDA contract during the year.

Our average daily mail volumes increased by some 4.7% compared to last year, while the overall UK mail market has seen a decline in transactional volumes of some 3% per annum, demonstrating further market share gains in the Downstream Access market.

Mail operating profits decreased by 1.7% to £12.5m (2014: £12.7m). On a like-for-like basis, operating profitadjusted for the effect of one less working day were in line with the previous year.  The operating margin remained at 5.2% (2014: 5.2%). 

The continued Ofcom review into Access pricing, while not expected to have any direct impact on UK Mail, continues to cause uncertainty in the market and for users of end-to-end services in particular.  An early resolution of these issues would be welcome.

imail, our web-to-print postal service, continues to show good revenue growth.  We continue to invest to increase our capacity and provide additional services.  'imailprint' has now been successfully launched.  This provides a specialist printing service which, rather than being purely mailed as with our current service, can produce printed documents for general usage.  We see this as a medium-term growth opportunity.

A key growth element of the Access Mail market is the rising popularity of packets; a segment that we estimate currently represents some £200m of the total Access Mail market of £1.5bn.  While we have made some progress in this area in recent years, our market share of the Access packets market remains very low and we are now reinvigorating this business, investing in specialist automated packets sortation equipment and increasing the size of our sales team.  We believe this area will be key to growing our mail revenues and profitability in the future.

UK Mail remains a market leader with an operational template ideally suited to the evolving demands of the mail market.  We remain focused on growing our business by handling additional mail for existing customers and winning volumes from other Access operators.  We continue to invest for the future, and see substantial growth opportunities for the medium and longer term.

Courier

Revenues in our Courier business, which provides same-day delivery services, increased by 2.0% to £16.5m (2014: £16.2m).  Operating margins however decreased to 13.4% (2014: 17.0%) leading to a decrease in the operating profit by 19.6% to £2.2m (2014: £2.7m).  This business has been undergoing a period of transition away from the traditional same-day courier operation towards one that provides specialist service support to our Parcels business, which has resulted in the loss of some business in the year.     

Today, our Courier business works increasingly closely with our parcels business and now represents a key part of the Retail Logistics operation within our parcels business. Given this, we have decided to integrate the Courier operation within our Parcels business and it will no longer be separately reported.

Pallets

Our Pallets business had endured a challenging few years with revenue and profitability declining in an increasingly competitive market and, as announced in January, a decision was taken to close it. The business ceased operating in March 2015.  The wind down was handled without disruption to our customers and with our staff treated professionally and fairly.  This business has been treated as a discontinued operation in the results.

The business, which has been reported as a discontinued operation reported a loss after taxation of £10.8m for the year (2014: profit after tax £0.7m), which includes the exceptional impairment of the goodwill arising on the acquisition together with the costs of closure, largely relating to redundancy and dilapidation costs.

Central costs

Central costs reduced to £15.1m (2014: £16.0m).  We continue to invest significantly in I.T., however this investment has been offset by savings in other areas.

Net Finance Income

Our cash balances have reduced as we have invested in our new hub and automation.  This has meant that our net finance income has reduced to £Nil (2014: £0.1m).

Exceptional Items

Our results include a net exceptional charge as follows:                                                     

The cost of automation implementation represents the cost incurred during the final weeks of the year as we move towards the implementation and roll out of the new automation equipment.  The costs incurred include contract termination costs and labour costs.  We expect to incur further automation exceptional costs in 2015/16 as we complete the implementation and roll out of the new equipment.

National hub relocation costs represent disturbance costs associated with the relocation of our National hub and offices to Ryton following an agreement reached with the Department of Transport ('DfT') to acquire our old National hub and offices in Birmingham.

The amounts received from HS2 explained in more detail below, relate to agreed compensation for the impact of HS2 on our business.  Further amounts will be recognised as exceptional items in the 2015/16 financial year.

The Group acquired UK Pallets for £9.4m in July 2003, recognising an initial goodwill asset of some £8.2m. This asset, which was initially amortised as required under the then applicable UK accounting rules, stood at £7.9m by the time the Group made the transition to IFRS on 1 April 2004.  Since then, this goodwill has been held on the consolidated balance sheet of UK Mail as an intangible asset and tested at least annually for impairment.

The decline in the performance of UK Pallets experienced over recent years has led to the decision to close the business.  The full amount of goodwill arising on acquisition has therefore been written off.

The cost of closing UK Pallets included redundancy costs of £0.7m and £0.7m contract termination and additional dilapidation costs.

Financial Position

The Group's financial position remains solid.  Despite the significant investment in our new hub and in automation - details of which are set out below - we had net debt at the end of the year of £5.2m (2014: net cash of £27.0m), having funded £45.5m (2014: £27.6m) of capital investment.

Net cash inflow from operations totalled £28.6m (2014: £33.2m), including £28.2m from continuing operations (2014: £32.8m). 

The total consolidated net cash outflow for the period was £22.8m (2014: £0.8m) which included £nil cash consumed in working capital (2014: £1.6m generated), and a net £43.9m (after allowing for the deferred compensation received from HS2) expended on capital additions (2014: £17.4m).

The Group paid £11.8m (2014: £10.7m) in dividends during the year.

To provide funding for the investment in the new hub and automation the Group agreed a £25m five year revolving credit facility with Lloyds Bank plc in May 2014.  This facility which supports the cash requirements of the investment programme, was £10m drawn at 31st March 2015.

The Group has also put in place further funding facilities to support our investment programme and to provide adequate working capital facilities.

HS2

In December 2013 we reached agreement with the Secretary of State for Transport concerning the relocation of our Birmingham National hub and head office as a result of the proposed High Speed Two (HS2) railway.  This involves the sale of our Birmingham site to the Department for Transport (DfT) and the relocation to a newly constructed facility at Ryton near Coventry. 

We have agreed specific compensation payments with the DfT and HS2 Ltd.  Of these amounts, £4.3m was received in the year (2014: £11.6m) with further amounts to be received in the next financial year as they are agreed.

The costs of the move to the new site, including the I.T. data centre move and related staff costs will be incurred, over this and the next financial year.  We anticipate that the costs we incur to reinstate our existing capability will be fully compensated by the UK Department of Transport and HS2 Ltd (subject to the requirements of the Compensation Code).

Capital Additions

Capital additions for the period included our underlying business capital expenditure combined with the initial investment in our new hub and in automation.

This can be summarised as follows:

The underlying capital additions includes £7.7m on I.T. as we continue to develop our system infrastructure, and £3.9m on our network.

The investment in the new hub in the period comprises the continuing payments for the construction of the National hub and new Birmingham head office.  The cumulative total expected to be spent on the land and building over the period to March 2016 is some £35m. We expect our net contribution to the building of the new hub, reflecting the contribution from the DfT and HS2, will be some £15m which covers the enhancement of the site and building beyond the scale of the current facility. The investment in automation reflects the payments for the development, installation and commissioning of the hub and network automation equipment.  As previously guided, the total expected to be spent on this equipment, over the period to September 2015, is some £20m.

Earnings per share

Underlying basic earnings per share decreased by 1.3% to 30.3p (2014: 30.7p). Basic earnings per share decreased 71.3% to 9.2p (2014: 32.0p).

Dividend

The Board has proposed a 2.1% increase in the final dividend to 14.5p (2014: 14.2p), resulting in a total dividend for the year of 21.8p (2014: 21.3p), an increase of 2.3%.  The final dividend is payable on 28 August 2015, to shareholders registered on 31 July 2015.

The total dividend is covered 1.39 times by underlying earnings (2014: 1.5 times).

OUTLOOK

Parcels is a growth market that is rapidly polarising between high quality, innovative and sophisticated operators and those at the opposite end of the value scale.  We are in the midst of a phase of substantial strategic investment to place us at a significant competitive advantage in the value-added segment of this market for the medium and longer term.

We continue to see significant opportunities for our Mail business from the changes in the marketplace and the new initiatives we are pursuing such as imail and imailprint. We are also very excited by the substantial opportunities that exist to expand our packets business.

The immediate focus for our business is on managing the transition to the new hub combined with the effective introduction and roll-out of the new automated sortation equipment, with the associated amendment to the profile of the consignments we handle.  This investment, the benefits of which are expected to be seen from the second half of the current financial year, will set us up very well for the next stage of profitable growth. 

The first half of the new financial year will be challenging as we reposition our parcels business and manage the full transition to the new hub. This, together with the implementation and roll-out of the new automation, will result in performance for the year being more weighted to the second half than usual.

The medium and long term outlook for the Group remain very positive.

Guy Buswell

Chief Executive Officer

ADDITIONAL DISCLOSURES

Principal risks and uncertainties facing the business

UK Mail's business and share price may be affected by a number of risks, not all of which are within our control. The process UK Mail has in place for identifying, assessing and managing risks is set out in the Corporate Governance Report on page 31 of the 2014 Annual Report and Accounts. The specific principal risks and uncertainties that may affect the Group's performance, together with relevant mitigating factors as identified by the Group's risk management process were discussed on page 20 of the Group's 2014 Annual Report and Accounts. These included risks relating to IT systems, business continuity, the building of and relocation to a new national hub, legislation and regulation, competition and fuel factors, in addition to financial risks including credit risk. It is considered that these still remain the most likely areas of potential risk and uncertainty, with the position unchanged from that set out in the 2014 Annual Report and Accounts.

Cautionary statement

This interim announcement contains certain forward-looking statements, which have been made by the directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the time of the approval of this report and such information should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business risk factors, underlying any such forward-looking information. Nothing in this report should be construed as a profit forecast.

Going concern

The directors are satisfied that the Group has sufficient resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the condensed consolidated interim financial statements. 

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the year ended 31 March 2015

Consolidated Balance Sheet

as at 31 March 2015

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

for the year ended 31 March 2015

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the year ended 31 March 2015

1.        Segmental information

2.        Earnings per share 

Basic earnings per share have been calculated by dividing the profit for the year by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue for the year ended 31 March 2015 of 54,729,788 (2014: 54,705,627). Diluted earnings per share have been calculated by adjusting the weighted average number of ordinary shares for the effect of the exercise of share options, increasing the number of shares to 54,912,124 (2014: 54,972,297).

3.        Exceptional items

Exceptional costs - continuing operations

The cost of automation implementation represents the costs incurred during the final weeks of the year ended 31 March 2015, as the Group moved towards the implementation and roll-out of new automation equipment. These costs largely represent contract termination costs. Further amounts are expected to be taken as exceptional costs in the 2015/16 financial year.

National hub relocation costs represent disturbance costs associated with the relocation of our National hub and offices to Ryton-on-Dunsmore following an agreement reached with the Department of Transport ('DfT') to acquire the National hub and offices in Birmingham. These costs largely comprise £0.2m property costs associated with running two sites for an approximate period of two months, £1.1m of recruitment and redundancy costs, and £1.2m of costs relating to short term site operating costs, incurred as a result of the delay in the expansion of our old National hub as a result of this compulsory acquisition.

Full reimbursement of these costs is being sought from the DfT and HS2 Ltd, subject to the requirements of the Compensation Code.

HS2 compensation received relates to agreed compensation resulting from the profit impact of the delay of automation of our operation due to the impact of HS2 on the Group's plans. Further amounts are expected to be taken as exceptional income in the 2015/16 financial year.

Exceptional costs - discontinued operations

The Group acquired UK Pallets for £9.4m in July 2003, recognising an initial goodwill asset of some £8.2m. This asset, which was initially amortised as required under the then applicable UK accounting rules, stood at £7.9m by the time the Group made the transition to IFRS on 1 April 2004. Since then, this goodwill has been held on the consolidated balance sheet of UK Mail as an intangible asset and tested at least annually for impairment.

At the interim stage, and following a deterioration in the trading performance of UK Pallets, an impairment charge of £7.3m was recognised as an exceptional cost.

Since then, and as announced in January 2015, a decision was made to close the business. Consequently, the remaining amount of goodwill arising on acquisition has therefore been written off, resulting in a total goodwill impairment charge of £7.9m for the year ended 31 March 2015. Additionally, the Group recognised a further £1.1m impairment charge relating to the write-off of capitalised software development costs.

Closure costs of £1.4m principally comprise of £0.7m redundancy costs, and £0.7m contract termination and additional dilapidation costs.

4.        Analysis of net cash

5.        General information

(i) Statutory Accounts

The financial information set out above does not constitute the Group's statutory accounts for the year ended 31 March 2015 within the meaning of section 435 of the Companies Act 2006. Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2015 will be delivered to the registrar of companies in due course. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP has reported on these financial statements and their report was (i) unqualified, (ii) did not include a reference to any other matters to which the auditors drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report and (iii) did not contain a statement under section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.

(ii) Accounting policies

The accounting policies applied by the Group in its consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2015 are in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards and IFRIC interpretations as adopted by the European Union (Adopted IFRSs) and the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies reporting under IFRS. The accounting policies, which have been applied consistently to all the years presented, are set out in those financial statements.