No dirty linen for Taylors Group

By Duncan Bridgeman

Friday 20th August 2004

Taylors is another newcomer to the Hall of Fame after three years of consistent returns to shareholders.

It returned 61.1% last year and rewarded its longer-term shareholders with a combined three-year return of 40.9%.

Managing director Maurice Nicholson said the results stemmed from the company returning to its core business interests 10 years ago. No dirty linen so to speak.

"Instead of doing all sorts of funny things we went back to just being a laundry business while investing in new machinery and product.

"All we've really done in the last 10 years is got rid of the fringe value things the old uniform manufacturing business, for instance."

Taylors has been helped in recent times by the record numbers of tourists entering the country and has targeted the backpacker market in particular.

More profitable, according to Nicholson, has been the high growth in healthcare leading to more use of linen in hospitals, rest care facilities and the like.

The company has produced double-digit profit increases for five years on the trot. Its worst result in that period was the 11% increase to $3.3 million in the year to June 30, 2002. In 1999 the increase was 37.7%, which was followed by gains of 27.3% and 28.6%.

Nicholson, also head of Taylors' 57% shareholder Spotless Services NZ, attributed the company's turnaround to strong management during the extensive restructuring period.

"We got the balance sheet right that was the first trick," he said.

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