Press releases

Preliminary Results for year ended 31 March 2004

25 May 2004

• 29% increase in profit before amortisation of goodwill, exceptional items and taxation to £827m (2003: £642m)
  
  
• Profit before tax increased to £692m (2003: £409m)
  
  
• 27% increase in basic earnings per share before amortisation of goodwill and exceptional items to 60.7p (2003: 47.8p)
  
  
• Basic earnings per share 47.4p (2003: 25.1p)
  
  
• 16% increase in full year dividend to 27.0p (2003: 23.3p)

Record profits again at Argos, Experian and Burberry

• Argos Retail Group: sales up 10% and profit up 19% on a proforma basis (including Homebase for a full year in 2003)
  
  
• Experian: sales up 14% and profit up 20% for continuing activities at constant exchange rates
  
  
• Burberry: sales up 16% and profit up 24% at constant exchange rates

Further initiatives to enhance shareholder value

• Portfolio reshaping continues: disposal of Home shopping and Reality in May 2003; further Burberry share sale and disposal of property JV in November; planned partial IPO of South African Retailing in calendar 2004
  
  
• £200m share buyback to be initiated over next twelve months
  
  
• GUS Board actively to review all strategic options over the next two years

Sir Victor Blank, Chairman of GUS, commented:

“I am delighted with the progress that has been made over the past twelve months in all of our main businesses and with the growth in profits announced today. Over the past four years, GUS has established an excellent track record of creating value for our shareholders.”

John Peace, Chief Executive of GUS, commented:

“Profits grew by 29% last year, with record earnings at Argos, Experian and Burberry. We have strong momentum in all our businesses, reflecting continuing investment and clear strategies to drive growth. Today's announcement of a £200m share buyback and our intention actively to review all strategic options over the next two years further demonstrates our commitment to creating long-term shareholder value.”

Enquiries

There will be a presentation today at 8.30am to analysts and institutions at the Merrill Lynch Financial Centre, 2 King Edward Street, London EC1A 1HQ.

GUS and Burberry announcements are available on the GUS website: www.gusplc.com. The GUS slide pack and presentation to analysts and institutions will also be available there later in the day.

There will be a conference call to discuss the results at 3.00pm today (UK time), with a recording available later on the website.

GUS will hold its AGM and issue its First Quarter Trading Update on 21 July 2004.

Certain statements made in this announcement are forward looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any expected future results in forward looking statements.

View the full press release in PDF format (287 KB).

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