Pye suffers a cyclical

television equipment fall

By Bryan Appleyard

Pye Holdings, the 61 per centowned subsidiary of Philips Electronic and Associated Industries formed to hold all the capital of Pye of Cambridge, suffered a 28 per cent fall in net attributable profits in the six months to June 30.

Attributable profits fell from £3.3m to £2.4m. Group turnover rose from £90m to £99mn and pre-tax profits of Pye of Cambridge were down just over 30 per cent from £7.45m to E5.1m.

The results do not include the extraordinary loss of EIm, arising from the sale of Ekco Plastics to National Plastics, a Courtaulds subsidiary, for £825,000. But the effect of Pye's disposals is reflected in a total interest charge doun from £1.1m to £800,000. The preinterest trading profit is down from £8.54m to £5.9m.

The main trading problem wvas Pye TVT, which makes tele-

vision broadcasting equipment. It suffered a slharp cyclical drop, especially in the field of Electronic News Gathering equipment, a highly competitive area. In addition, the New Zealand consumer electronics business was depressed by economic conditions while Bepi, the professional printed circuits companv, continues to suffer quality control problems though these nowv appear to be being sorted out.

The estimated costs of reorganizing Pvc Unicam and Pye Ether, amounting to £800.000. were charged in the trading profits. Excluding these the electronic and instrumentation sector achieved improved figures.

Second-half figures are expected to show an improvement over the first half, but the year as a wvhole is unlikely to match the 1977 profits of £16.Im. The interimt divideid is 1.828p gross.