WLN Wellington Hds.

RNS Number:1609E
Wellington Holdings PLC
24 May 2001



Wellington Holdings plc

Chairman's Statement at AGM 24 May 2001

It gives me great pleasure to present our Annual Report for 2000, which was
our first full year of trading as a focused manufacturer of specialist seals
for engineering applications.  We sold our rubber compounding division in
October 1999.

Review of the Year

We achieved an outstanding 35% increase in pro-forma e.p.s. and raised seals
operating profit 33% to #4.3 million, before goodwill.  This represents a 14%
return on sales, which we believe is an excellent figure, emphasising the
quality of our company.

These record profits for the seals business have been driven by global growth
in sales which rose 23%.  We benefited from the strength of world economies
and ongoing recovery in energy-related sectors:- oil, gas and longwall coal
mining.  Good increases were also achieved through the promotion of innovative
products and strengthening world-wide distribution.

Operational cash flows in the seals business are strong and we invested #1.56
million of capital expenditure, which is 49% above the previous year (on a
like-for-like basis) and 34% over depreciation.  Most of this was on new
machinery and tooling to increase capacity and efficiencies.

Current Trading and Outlook

The year has started as planned, with profits well ahead of the first four
months of 2000.  Easing of economic growth and fears of recession seem to have
encouraged destocking in some areas, with construction equipment and general
industrial applications in the U.S. and Canada being worst affected, together
with weakness in Asia.  However, the effect of these has been mitigated by
strong demand in our energy-related applications, which looks set to continue.



A major extension of the rented building at CDI Seals in Houston will be
completed this summer and we are continuing to invest in production equipment
on all sites.



As a result of our strategic restructuring, we now have a focused business,
operating in niche markets.  We spread investor risk through the diversity of
the applications for our seals and our broad global coverage.   At this stage
Wellington is on course for another year of good progress.  We continue to
plan for growth.



B.H. Kent

Chairman



For further information contact:

Brian Kent, Chairman                              020 8941 3774
Peter Bennett, Chief Executive                    020 8941 3774
David Hardy
Binns & Co. PR                                    020 7786 9600
Or visit the Wellington website                   www.wellingtonholdings.com

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