Johnson Service to hit forecasts, but debt lower than expected

Johnson Service Group, the supplier of workwear and textile rental, dry-cleaning and facilities management, said that it is to meet forecasts with its 2012 results due out in early March.

"The group expects to announce results for the year ended December 31st 2012 which will be in line with market expectations," the AIM-listed firm said in a brief statement on Friday morning.

The company did however announce that net debt is forecast to be below £59m, lower than it had expected. Net debt by the end of 2011 was £49.7m.

Current consensus expectations are for full-year revenue to be flat at £242m (unchanged from 2011), while pre-tax profit is estimated to rise from £13.7m to £15.8m.

"I am pleased with the trading performance across the group and it is very encouraging to see that our drycleaning estate has shown like for like growth in sales which, whilst modest, is the first such increase for a number of years," said Executive Chairman John Talbot.

On December 6th 2012, Johnson Service disposed of its dry-cleaning and laundry subsidiary Alex Reid for £2.1m in cash. It still runs its dry-cleaning division through units Johnson Cleaners and Jeeves of Belgravia.

Based on Thursday's closing price, Johnson Service has a market capitalisation of around £95m, with shares having risen nearly 40% over the past year.