Losses place pressure on UC's shares
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• United Carriers shares came under pressure last week as it revealed pre-tax losses of £1.41m for the first half of 1995, against profits of £l.2lm last year.
But group managing director John Toyne says he is satisfied with the figures, which he puts down to re-structuring: "I believe we have a strong foundation to be successful," he says.
Despite the losses, turnover at the group rose from £59in in 1994 to £65m in 1995.
UC's major loss-making sector was Carpet Express, the carpet distributor, which lost near. ly £1m. The discontinued Smart Support Services and Direct Home Delivery posted combined losses of £627,000.
Toyne adds: "The company has gone through a hard first half of the year but we are on the road to putting our house in order. I am not disappointed with the figures. In fact I am very confident for the future and believe we have the basis for great success."
Toyne says low rates also affected performance. "We pitched our prices too low and the market has now accepted there is a need for them to rise," he says.
The group share price, which floated in February 1994 at 153p, fell 10p to 85p following the announcement of the latest figures, but recovered some of the lost ground this week.
The interim dividend is held at 1.6p in spite of losses of 5.6p per share.