James Halstead : JH plc Report & Accounts 2022

Report & Accounts 2022

Polysafe Wood fx

Directors and Advisers

Directors	Nominated adviser and stockbrokers
J A Wild FCA	Panmure Gordon & Co
M Halstead	One New Change
G R Oliver FCA MCT	London
S D Hall	EC4M 9AF
M J Halstead	Stockbrokers
R P Whiting
WH Ireland
Secretary	24 Martin Lane
D N Fletcher ACMA ACG	London
Registered office	EC4R 0DR
Beechfield	Auditor
Hollinhurst Road	BDO LLP
Radcliffe	3 Hardman Street
Manchester	Spinningfields
M26 1JN	Manchester
Company registration No.	M3 3AT
140269
Website
www.jameshalstead.com
Bankers
National Westminster Bank plc
1 Hardman Boulevard
Manchester
M3 3AQ
Registrars
Link Group
Central Square
29 Wellington Street
Leeds
LS1 4DL

HM Queen Elizabeth II 1926 - 2022

Polyflor was created in 1950. At the time it seemed to many as if Britain was losing its way in the post war world, but many more were optimistic. The newly formed NHS and the extension of the welfare state were part of what was to become the new Elizabethan age. Our company, and many others, were engaged in a seller's market exporting our goods, initially to the Commonwealth countries and then extending globally. HM Queen Elizabeth II travelled the world throughout the following years as our head of state. Her honesty, sincerity, sense of duty and service reflected back, in no small way, on the many businesses that exported from this relatively small nation.

Trusted, reliable and constant.

I had the honour to meet the Queen when we were presented with the Queen's Award for Enterprise, as did others from our business as further awards followed. I can speak for all our employees from the shop floors of Manchester and Teesside, to our offices in Germany, Australia, France, Asia, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Canada, India and South America - you served us well your Majesty.

Thank you. May you Rest in Peace.

Geoffrey Halstead

President

1

Contents

Strategic Report
Chairman's Statement	2
Chief Executive's Review	5
Financial Director's Review	7
Section 172 Statement	11
Governance
Report of the Directors	13
Board Report on Remuneration	17
Corporate Governance	18
Financial Statements
Independent Auditor's Report to the Members
of James Halstead plc	24
Consolidated Income Statement	30
Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income	31
Consolidated Balance Sheet	32
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity	33
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement	34
Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements	35
Company Balance Sheet	61
Company Statement of Changes in Equity	62
Notes to the Company Financial Statements	63
Supplementary Information
Ten Year Summary	70
Shareholder Information	71
Notice of Annual General Meeting	72

2

Chairman's Statement

Results

Revenue for the year at £291.9m (2021: £266.4m) is 9.6% ahead of the comparative year.

Underlying operating profit is £51.1 million (2021: £51.3m) - 0.4 % below last year. The reported profit for the year of £52.2m differed from this due to the one-off effect of insurance pay-outs in respect of the breakdown of one of the major production lines at our Radcliffe manufacturing plant in September 2019.

As I wrote in our trading update on 1 August 2022, the second half of the year has been, on the one hand, a period of full production for our factories in the UK but also with its challenges. The optimism at the start of the year on the decline of Covid-19, related supply problems and greater availability of labour was offset by a myriad of shortages/cost increases following the invasion of the Ukraine. Transport, fuel and energy increases were immediately obvious and whilst a significant issue during the spring/summer period, we have been mindful that the autumn/winter period may bring deeper problems. The most obvious effect on our business has been our decision to increase stockholdings as we sought to mitigate the risks associated with the potential inability to manufacture. This, in our view, seemed judicious and hopefully is over-cautious. In the event that the crisis does not escalate, then it is likely we will temporarily suspend some production for a period to bring stock levels back to normal.

Trading margins during the year decreased but are acceptable given the flood of cost increases that we have in part passed on. As I noted in the last two years' trading updates, this period was again not normal. For example, in some flooring projects that have been severely delayed, we have honoured the prices originally quoted to preserve the volume needed to feed our production lines. In other instances, we have re-priced to find volume still goes elsewhere and in many cases we have re-priced again and retained the business. This is the nature of our industry with over-capacity of supply and at least one global competitor has fallen into receivership on the back of facing similar issues. Whilst some other industries have priced daily on the back of this difficult situation, we have

walked a more cautious path and I commend our teams that collectively have been successful in managing the challenges we face.

There have been some positives in the midst of a generally difficult trading environment. The general boycott in Russian trade has eased the widespread shortage of shipping containers that has prevailed since Covid-19 disrupted normal shipping routes. Similarly, with Russian bound supplies of certain raw materials facing export restrictions there was, at times, more availability to our factories as these were diverted back into the European market. Overall it was a difficult period for manufacturing.

The company and our strategy

James Halstead is a group of companies involved in the manufacture and supply of flooring for commercial and domestic purposes, based in Bury UK. James Halstead plc has been listed on the London Stock Exchange for nearly 75 years.

The group was established in 1914 and continues to operate out of the original premises in Bury. In its factories in Bury and Teesside it manufactures resilient flooring for distribution in the UK and worldwide.

The company's strategy is to constantly develop its brand identity and its reputation for quality, product innovation, durability and availability, thereby enhancing and maintaining goodwill with the aim of achieving repeat business. Our focus is to work with stockists who in turn distribute those bulk deliveries whilst promoting and representing the products to the end users and specifiers who will purchase the stock from those stockists.

This approach is designed to increase and secure revenue streams and drive profitability and cash flow which enables the continuation of dividends thereby creating shareholder wealth. In the normal course of business one key element of the company ethos is having dedicated sales personnel to present our product to our customers' clientele.

Over many years our strategy has also included a policy of continual investment in both process improvement and in product development to improve output efficiency and product offering.