Securicor hit by fall in demand

FOOTSIE novice Securicor today said weaker-than-expected demand on the High Street was hurting its distribution business while a disappointing performance from the division held back full-year profits, writes David Lister.

Chief executive Robert Wiggs said: "Demand is certainly a little weaker than we would like it. Things have improved in the run-up to Christmas but in terms of the number of parcels it is not phenomenally up on last year and nothing like the growth we had hoped for."

Profits for the 12 months to 30 September were GBP 83.5 million, well above last year's depressed GBP 31.4 million but still massively short of the GBP 107 million struck two years ago. The company took a hit of GBP 4 million after problems with its new parcels "super-terminal" at Hatfield. Taking on new subscribers for Cellnet, where Securicor has a 40% stake, held back its share of profits there, which slid from GBP 95 million to GBP 88 million. Dividends for the year rise to 1.93p from 1.74p.

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