Ronson plc announced its interim results to 31 December 2002 and declared a pre-tax profit of Ј15,000 and overall turnover increasing by only 7.2%, attributed to a planned reduction in gift product sales.
At the end of June 2002 the Group changed bankers to the HSBC Bank. The Board reported that the change of financing from an overdraft basis to asset-based financing gave the Group the resources to continue the development of the core business.
With the introduction of asset-based financing the level of financing is now Ј1.034m including confidential invoice discounting of the debtor book (Ј358,000), termed documentary credits for its main import supplier base (Ј154,000), a termed loan taken as a result of the bank changeover (Ј522,000) and a foreign exchange facility. The loan account will be used to allow an additional line of credit on termed documentary credits now being written with HSBC and is secured against stock.
