Horne's accounts show retained loss of pounds 51.7m.(Robert Horne Group)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Robert Horne Group's recently filed accounts for 2001 show a pounds 51.7m retained loss on sales of pounds 386m.

The merchant paid out dividends totalling pounds 52.9m. Managing director Toby Marchant said this was part of a securitisation programme for parent Buhrmann, allowing it to take assets to reduce its cost of borrowing.

'Unfortunately it's a consequence of being part of a big group like Buhrmann, and gives a slightly false impression of how well we are performing,' he added.

Turnover for the group rose 3% on 2000 to pounds 386m, but its pre-tax profit was just pounds 439,000. But Marchant said that the group was still in 'good shape', and had performed better than most ...