Tuesday 15 August 2000

Sherwood hurt by Y2K fears

Interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2000 - Sherwood International

SHERWOOD International, the information technology supplier to the insurance industry, yesterday reported first half pre-tax profits of #2.55m, down from #2.88m last year. Chief executive George Matthews attributed the fall in profits, which came despite an 11pc rise in group sales, to "Year 2000 issues" which delayed potential customers' "buying decisions".

Another factor was the costs associated with e2-one, a subsidiary company recently created to market oeos, an e-commerce product providing online internet transaction processing. The offshoot is actively seeking to market oeos outside the insurance industry.

A interim dividend of 0.85p, up from 0.7p last year, is payable on October 6. Sherwood's shares closed down 30 yesterday at 762p.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000446462942768&rtmo=LlllKtLd&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/8/15/cnsher15.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 21, 2000