Britvic chief joins Johnson
THE chief executive of listed drinks group Britvic has joined Johnson Service Group as a non-executive director.
Paul Moody, pictured below, has been at the helm of Britvic since 2005 and joined the business as a sales director in 1996. He previously worked in a number of roles for companies such as Mars and Grand Metropolitan.
Runcorn-based Johnson said his experience would be a “great asset” to the board.
The company operates a dry cleaning chain, a textile division which rents out linen and workwear and a facilities management arm.
In the year to December 31 it saw revenue fall 6% to £236.4m while pre-tax profits, adjusted for exceptional items, doubled to £12m.
Chairman John Talbot said the result was down to, “a focus on costs, cash flow and profitability,” in challenging conditions.
He said: “This has resulted in an increase in adjusted operating profit and a doubling of adjusted profit before tax. I am particularly pleased that Stalbridge, after a very difficult few years, has returned to profit.
“We have continued to reduce our net debt and I feel very positive about the future prospects of our three divisions despite the harsh economic environment.”
Johnson’s textile arm, which runs Apparelmaster and Stalbridge Linen Services, saw revenue fall 5% to £116.9m. It was affected by business closures and spending cuts, but succeeded in pushing up operating profit by 2% to £14.6m after reining in costs.
Revenue at the Johnson Cleaners dry cleaning arm fell 9% to £83.5m while operating profit slipped 30% to £3m. Facilities management was also hit by business failures but new client wins helped it increase revenue by 1.5% to £28.9m and push up operating profit by 6.5% to £3.3m.
