June 21, 2007 -- 600 Group PLC swung to a full-year pretax profit and said implementation of its strategic review was successful, with another year of good progress, solid underlying growth and sustainable profit increases. The manufacturer and distributor of machine tools said it has a strong order book for delivery in 2007/8 and that it starting to see the benefits of investing in its sales, marketing and supply chains.

However, the company added it expects turnover will be impacted by the disposal of its Erickson business and the non-repeat of an exceptional 4.5 mln stg Airbus order. Pretax profits for the year to end-March came in at 2.4 mln stg compared with a year-ago loss of 1.7 mln, despite costs of 0.3 mln stg incurred from discontinued operations. Revenues rose 11 pct to 79 mln stg, driven mainly by the UK market. No dividend was declared.

Source: AFX UK Focus
Source: Factiva