Heywood Williams cut its full-year pre-tax losses by more than half to £32M after completing group restructuring. The firm made a pre-tax exceptional profit of £5.3M (£3.2M). Mr R Barr, CE said: "We have returned this business to profit & there is a strong balance sheet. That has been due to successful restructuring." HW suffered through 2002/3 because of deterioration in global trading conditions & worsening logistical problems. "We have restructured the group into 3 divisions, strengthened management & cut costs." The UK hardware division saw sales fall 3% as a large customer closed, although operating profits rose 19%, as overheads were cut. In the year to Dec/04, total turnover fell to £363.3M (£499.4M), but turnover from continuing operations went up to £319M (£317M). Pre-tax losses were cut to £32.4M while losses per shares were cut from £0.95 to £0.348.
