Manganese Bronze warns on black cab sales
Manganese Bronze, makers of the iconic black London taxi cab, warned Wednesday that trading in the United Kingdom continues to be impacted by the uncertain economic conditions and that demand for new vehicles in the second half of 2008 will be below those of the first six months.
Conrad Black denied bailThe group said that vehicles sales for the nine months to end-September were down 37.5 percent to 1,628 vehicles, compared to 2,604 vehicles in the same period last year.
It added that earnings continue to be negatively impacted by three factors - the strength of the euro increasing the cost of engines purchased from Italy, the costs of supporting the joint venture set up with engineers and the cost of the international sales and marketing team.
In response, the group is reducing vehicle output to lower inventory levels, implementing an aggressive reduction in operating costs and making headcount reductions. This will result in a 15 percent reduction of the manufacturing break-even level to around 2,000 vehicles per annum.
"The UK market place remains challenging and the board does not expect that UK sales will exceed the manufacturing break-even point in 2008," the group said in a statement.
"In China, Shanghai LTI remains on plan to deliver a step change in the group's prospects and financial performance with significant profit contributions from mid-2009," it added.
(Reporting by Malcolm Locke; Editing by Mike Nesbit)
|
|
