Balance Sheet
- Share buy back
- £178M returned in H1
- On track for £350M this year
- 748.8M shares in issue
- Net debt £704M, +89%
- €300M Euro bond issued
Notes
We have made good progress in making the balance sheet more efficient.
The share buy back programme is on track. At the end of the first half we had returned almost exactly half of the £350M commitment. There were 748.8 million shares in issue at the end of September.
Net debt at the half year was £704m, up almost 90% on last year. We anticipate a significant reduction by the year end as working capital falls.
Earlier this month we issued a €300m 2007 floating rate note which met with good investor demand.
