Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Adjusted pre-tax profits for the year to December 2006 fell from £12.68m to £9.26m, with turnover dropping to £458.28m from £486.78m last time.

The company said it expects its UK and French businesses to continue to perform with the usual seasonal patterns, while highlighting the challenge to continue to secure growth and improve management disciplines further in 2007.

Fayrewood expects to return not less than £35m to its shareholders, subject to unforeseen circumstances and proposed raising its final dividend to 1.5p, from 1.1p for 2005, which would raise the final dividend by 66 per cent to 2.5p.

The results announcement saw Fayrewood's share price grow by almost four per cent, growing 4p to 107p.