London, Mar. 25--Gaskell PLC widened its full-year pretax loss to 9 million pounds sterling from 6.55 million and said it has achieved substantial progress in the restructuring of the group, which is currently evaluating different strategies to take Gaskell forward.
Sales in the year to Dec 31 2002 fell to 55.6 million pounds from 68.9 a year earlier, while basic loss per share widened to 9.0 pence from 1.1 pence.
The sale of the Tile Division for up to 18 million pounds of the Kidderminster property for 3.1 million announced in Jan 2003 strengthen significantly the financial position of the group by eliminating net debt and provide funds to invest in opportunities for growth, it said in its results statement.
The disposals allow Gaskell to restructure its cost base, address its loss-making subsidiary, Tomkinsons, and fund the group's pension schemes on a continuing basis.
Gaskells said it expects a loss in the early part of the current year as the wind-down arrangements for Tomkinsons are completed.
However, it is confident that the second half will benefit from the final elimination of Tomkinsons manufacturing losses, a stronger performance in Gaskell Carpets and the establishment of a cost-effective warehousing and distribution activity.
