John Menzies holds off decline

A net gain of 30 ground-handling contracts was behind the 10 per cent increase in operating profits to £35.6m at Menzies Aviation on divisional revenues that rose 3 per cent to £697m. This helped the business shrug off the drag from a 5.6 per cent fall in cargo volumes as trading conditions worsened towards the year-end. The core Menzies Distribution division also benefited - in a defensive way - from contract wins, particularly the renewal of a distribution contract with News International. Accordingly, in a declining publishing market, Menzies' profit there was kept flat at £28.8m, helped by £5.6m of cost savings. The overall print market was generally weak and consumer spending on traditionally profitable magazines has fallen in line with lower disposable income, resulting in fierce price cutting by weekly celebrity titles - although newspapers were stronger than expected. Finance director Paul Dollman said the company was making acquisitions to add to its distribution business for the first time in several years.

Broker N+1 Singer forecasts pre-tax profit for 2013 of £58.1m and EPS of 72.3p (from £58.4m and 73.2p in 2012).