Sales at the group were effectively static at 123.6m (2003: 123.2m), while pre-tax profits prior to goodwill and exceptionals fell 31% to 4.4m.
A goodwill write-off of 1m related to previous acquisitions together with exceptional bad debt and restructuring costs of 810,000 contributed to a post-tax and post-dividend retained loss of 536,000 for the year.
After a miserable first half things picked up for the group in the six months to 31 March, which chairman Bryan Bedson said was "a direct result" of the actions taken to replace lost business and restore profitability at under-performing operations.
Bedson said he was "cautiously optimistic" that Wyndeham would make further progress this year and next.
It's been a year of significant change for Wyndeham. Group managing director Paul Utting joined last autumn, and was soon followed by his former St Ives Web colleague Roy Kingston, who has taken up the newly-created role of group operations director with a brief to "strengthen and integrate" the group's operational functions.
Three months ago the group acquired Graphic Facilities in a 6m deal, and its publishing pre-press operation is being "closely aligned" with that of existing pre-press wing Argent Colour.
Utting has also created a centralised sales force based out of the Wyndeham Westway site in Luton, with the entire salesforce now reporting to divisional sales directors Jon Hearnden and Ian Tarry from last month. "It's got rid of the situation where we sometimes had five or six salespeople calling on one account, so it's clarified communication. We've already had customers saying that it's an improvement," Utting explained.
In his operational review Utting said that the more integrated approach being taken by the group was having positive results, with contract wins for combined services and an expansion of some existing customer relationships.
Nevertheless, Kingston is undertaking a full review of costs, productivity and purchasing.
Wyndeham is also looking to improve efficiencies by implementing a group-wide production planning system from Technique, billed as a "vital tool for the sales force and management".
Market conditions were described as "particularly competitive" in commercial literature but Utting reported "recent improvements in the supply and demand dynamics" in magazines, where Wyndeham has won new work worth more than 4m with Reed Business Information, IPC and Haymarket. The group is "aggressively driving additional sales" to the publishing sector, and said it had already had success in selling pre-press services in addition to print.
"At the moment we're seeing more stability in the magazine market than in commercial, and the wins we've had this year reflect that," said Utting. "As demand and supply have come more into equilibrium we've also seen more stability in pricing we've seen what the penalty is for pricing being too low and there's a recognition that that can't continue."
Utting is also introducing some magazine printing work at Wyndeham Westway, one of the largest sheetfed printing sites in the UK and previously focused solely on commercial work. The 24/7 business runs six sheetfed presses and also has perfect binding and stitching kit. "What we are doing is shifting some capacity to give some base load. Westway actually has everything you need to produce short-run magazines," Utting said.
In direct mail Wyndeham Print Direct's new ten unit 1.8m RDP Marathon press with integrated finishing will be commissioned next month, widening the company's offering.
The City appeared lukewarm, and Wyndeham's share price fell 6.5p, or 5.3%, to 115p on the results in early morning trading.
Story by Jo Francis
