MANGANESE BRONZE PROFITS SHOOT UP!
Manganese Bronze Holdings PLC, the parent
company behind London Taxis International, have announced their
audited preliminary results for the twelve months ending 31 July
2006 and they show the cab makers as having boosted pre-tax profits
by 88% - up from 2005’s £2million to £3.7million. That figure
includes profit of £1.1million on the sale of their surplus property
in Ipswich.
The company’s Balance Sheet also looks strong with cash and
cash equivalents of £12.9million (2005: £9.6million) with net assets
of £21.5million (2005: £19.7million).
Investment in the new TX4 and a move for M&O to new retail
facilities in London resulted in a total capital investment of £6.2
million (2005: £2.9 million).
There was a recommended final dividend of 3p per share (2005: 3p)
plus a special dividend of 1p per share (2005: nil) - total dividend
increase of 50% to 6p per share (2005: 4p).
Commenting on the results MBH Chairman Tim Melville-Ross, told
Call Sign:
"These are a strong set of results, building on last year's
turnaround to profit. The Group's restructuring is now complete with
loss making businesses and surplus properties sold.
"We were delighted to announce our Chinese joint venture with Geely
and are excited by the medium term prospects this partnership will
create. Manufacturing London taxis in China will enable us to pursue
our long term international expansion plans.
"Current vehicle sales are ahead of last year and we anticipate a
further uplift in sales from the new TX4 model and the introduction
of new emissions regulations in London." |
DRIVER OPERATIONS UPDATE |
| Hello
Ladies and Gents,
Marshalling
It seems that Christmas comes earlier every year but with only weeks
to go, I feel once again I need to call on all of you to help the
Marshals out at the many events that we will be covering throughout
the festive season. With current work figures surpassing all
previous years, this will surely prove to be the busiest Christmas
yet. It’s a hard juggling exercise when we have so many new requests
for our services, but our aim this year must be to give priority to
our many valued account clients.
As with previous years, I will try to give you notice of all
locations and times and I know that you will continue to support us.
I’ve said it many times, but we are a team and it is because we work
so closely together that we are in such great demand. There will be
a mixture of credit and cash events and it is important to give our
regular account clients as good a service as possible.
Remember they are with us all year long…
Coverage
Coverage and service levels are important at any time, but even more
so at the moment -especially in certain problem areas. With many
unmatched trips in the system during extreme periods, it is very
easy to get in the habit of rejecting trips in so many different
directions that in the end you even question yourselves as to which
direction you want to end up in!
Please try to accept the first trip that is offered, it will
certainly improve response times, which is a problem in the City and
Canary Wharf areas late evening. Speedy acceptances would also help
lower any error rates on the system, which in itself will improve
|
the signals
when large numbers of taxis are signed on and increased amounts of
work being dispatched.
The three Peugeot cars are there to be won and covering more trips
will increase your chances of winning…
Picking up…
I’m sure you know better than most how parking restrictions in the
City and West End areas can make it very difficult to stop near to a
partucular address. There are two ways that can assist both the Call
Centre and customer. One is to display nameboards (unless
specifically asked not to) making sure that the board isn’t masked
by the steering wheel and the other is to use the Parked facility on
your terminal. After pressing the arrival button, press
Gen Code which will display the Parked button. If you
press this button, it will allow you a one-line text message to send
back to the Call Centre. This is a facility that is under-used and
is a great help, especially if you are parked some distance from the
pick-up location. More and more clients are complaining of not being
able to locate their taxis, when through no fault of your own, you
are parked in a slightly obscure place away from the actual address.
Unfortunately if accounts receive automatic ring backs, then the
actual location will not be sent but will be logged on the system if
passengers still wish to query the status of their taxis.
Can I again remind you that if you have any problems using the
system, please contact me on 0207 607 6403 or email me at address
below and I will be only too pleased to assist. Alternatively you
can ring Brunswick House and leave a message for me to contact you…
Allan Evans
Allane@Dialacab.co.uk |
