On 5 June, Pilkington Plc announced its results for the year ending 31 March 1997. Group profits decreased to £132m from £212m, before one-off losses and redundancy costs took away a further £55m. Turnover dropped to £2.865bn from £2.899bn. Earnings per share before exceptional items were 5.8p (1996 14p) and the Pilkington board is recommending a final dividend of 3.25 per share, making a total for the year of 5p per share, the same as last year. Chairman, Sir Nigel Rudd, said that the results were a disappointment, largely due to underperformance in Europe which has masked successes elsewhere, particularly in North America where Pilkington LOF reported record profits. during the year the UK group sold assets and businesses for a total of £100m These sales resulted in exceptional losses of £15m.
