We continue to make the balance sheet more efficient while seeking to maintain a strong investment grade debt rating.
The share buy back programme returned £300 million in the year and we remain committed to returning the remainder of the £700 million programme. Given the more subdued trading environment, we expect this to be done over the next 2 to 3 years. The smaller scale of the buy back in the year is likely to mean our buying pattern will be less regular than has recently been the case.
As a result of the buyback programme, there were 731 million shares in issue at 31 March 2005.
Net debt increased by £446 million to £594 million.
As we have said before, we will use the expected proceeds of the sale and leaseback in excess of £250 million to reduce short term borrowings. We expect this transaction will be completed over the summer.
