EUK shines despite dive in profits at Woolworths. (News).

Music and video distributor Entertainment UK emerged as one of the brightest performers among a disappointing set of annual figures from the Woolworths Group, which saw profits plunge into the red last week after paying exceptional costs of 72.1m [pounds sterling].

Woolworths -- which ended up paying a one-off bill relating to demerger costs, overstocking and the closure of its internet operation -- unveiled a 46.4m [pounds sterling] loss for the year ended February 2 2002, compared with a profit of 54.3m [pounds sterling] the previous year. Sales were slightly up at 2.62bn [pounds sterling] (2.52bn [pounds sterling]).

Chairman Gerald Corbett blamed the figures on the August demerger from Kingfisher, which left the group with a huge overstocking problem and 200m [pounds sterling] in inherited debts, but he says the first phase of the ...