Tough times at Waterford crystal group

A DIP of 4.6% in annual sales to €951.3m, a modest rise in profits before tax, a cut in its dividend and the loss of more than 1,000 jobs in Britain has been reported by the Waterford Wedgwood group.

The share price dipped about 10% following publication of the figures for the last financial year, but closed unchanged at 23 cent.

Results for the year to March 31, would have shown a pre-tax loss but for first half gains of €5.1m for the sale of fixed assets and a €9.7m gain from the conversion of US debt to euro.