Vp plc Preliminary Results Year Ended 31 March 2005

Vp plc

Preliminary Results

Year Ended31 March 2005

Jeremy Pilkington

Chairman

Neil Stothard

Group Managing Director

Mike Holt

Group Finance Director

• Specialist equipment rental

• Breadth of sector exposure – earnings resilience

• Market leading businesses

• Core expertise in asset management

• Excellent cash flow and strong balance sheet

• Significant growth opportunities identified

Vp – an introduction

• 5 years of >10% earnings growth

• PBT increased by 14%* to £9.4m

• EPS increased by 14%* to 15.04 pence

• Return on capital employed increased to 17%

• Dividend increased 15% to 5.75 pence

Highlights

* Excluding prior year exceptional property profit

Financial Review

Mike Holt

Group Finance Director

Financial Highlights

* Excluding prior year exceptional property profit** Restated for UITF 38

Year Ended Year Ended31 March 2005 31 March 2004

£m £mTurnover £90.0m £83.5m +8%PBT (pre-goodwill) £9.8m £8.6m* +14%PBT (post-goodwill) £9.4m £8.2m* +14%Operating Margin 10.8% 10.3% +5%EPS 15.04p 13.19p* +14%Dividend 5.75p 5.00p +15%

ROCE 17% 16% * *Net Debt £2.4m £7.5m

Balance Sheet

31 March 2005 31 March 2004*£m £m

Intangible Fixed Assets 7.0 7.1Tangible Fixed Assets 48.7 49.9

55.7 57.0Net Working Capital 7.0 6.6Provisions (4.0) (4.3)Capital Employed 58.7 59.3Net Debt (2.4) (7.5)Net Assets 56.3 51.8

Gearing 4% 14%

Net Assets Per Share (Pence) 122 112

* Restated for UITF 38

Year Ended Year Ended

31 March 2005 31 March 2004

£m £m

Operating Profit 9.7 8.7 +12%

Depreciation 11.5 11.6

Profit on Sale of Fixed Assets (1.2) (1.2)

Change in Net Working Capital 0.1 (2.3)

Net Cash Inflow 20.1 16.8 +20%

Cash to Profit Ratio 208% 194%

Cash Flow per Share 46.5p 38.7p +20%

Operating Cash Flow

Cash Flow

Year Ended Year Ended31 March 2005 31 March 2004

£m £mOperating Cash Flow 20.1 16.8Net Capital Expenditure (9.0) (6.5)Net I nterest (0.3) (0.4)Tax (3.3) (2.4)Free Cash Flow 7.5 7.5Acquisitions and Disposals (0.2) (6.5)Equity Dividends Paid (2.2) (2.0)Cash Inflow (Outflow) 5.1 (1.0)Acquired Net Debt - (0.3)Movement in Net Debt 5.1 (1.3)

International Financial Reporting Standards

P & L B/S

Pensions Low Med

Share Schemes Med Med

Deferred Tax Low Low

Goodwill impairment Low Low

Financial I nstruments Low Low

Impact through reserves of circa £4m on net assets of £56m

Impact

Operational Review

Neil Stothard

Group Managing Director

Segmental Analysis

31 Mar 05 31 Mar 04 31 Mar 05 31 Mar 04

£m £m £m £m

Groundforce 24.6 19.3 5.7 5.3 +7%

UK Forks 12.8 12.4 1.4 1.3 +11%

Airpac Oilfield Services 4.5 3.7 1.1 0.5 +114%

Hire Station 34.8 36.5 (0.7) (0.4) -

Torrent Trackside 13.3 11.6 2.5 2.3 +8%

TOTAL 90.0 83.5 10.1 9.0 +12%

Sales Operating Profit

Breadth of Markets – Earnings Resilience

12%

24%

25%5%

15%

19% ResidentialNon-residentialWater and CivilsOil and GasRailRMI

Excavation support systems and specialist products for the water, civil engineering and construction industries

Groundforce

Groundforce

31 March 2005 31 March 2004£m £m

Sales 24.6 19.3 +27%

Profit 5.7 5.3 +7%

Margin 23.2% 27.5%

Fleet Capex 2.6 1.8

• Market Leader in ground support systems

• Good demand from AMP3/major projects

• Successful integration of 03/04 acquisitions

• Shoring hire fleet rationalisation

• Improved national coverage – Piletec, Stoppers, Survey

• Product extension opportunities

• Well positioned for future AMP4 activity when commenced

Groundforce

Rough terrain material handling equipment for industry, residential and general construction

UK Forks

UK Forks

31 March 2005 31 March 2004£m £m

Sales 12.8 12.4 +3%

Profit 1.4 1.3 +11%

Margin 11.0% 10.5%

Fleet Capex 3.1 2.5

• Profit and return on capital growth

• Focused product investment

– 10% ‘net’ growth in fleet

• Further progress with major house-builders

• Customer appetite for unique offering to the market

• Housebuilding/Construction markets relatively supportive

UK Forks

Equipment and service providers to the international oil and gas exploration and development markets

Airpac Oilfield Services

Airpac Oilfield Services

31 March 2005 31 March 2004£m £m

Sales 4.5 3.7 +22%

Profit 1.1 0.5 +114%

Margin 24.4% 13.5%

Fleet Capex 0.5 0.5

• Excellent performance

• Strong demand from North Sea and South East Asia

• International project activity good

• New competences being developed

• Geographic growth opportunities

• Market remains busy, with supportive crude oil price

Airpac Oilfield Services

Tools and specialist products for industry and construction

Hire Station

Hire Station

31 March 2005 31 March 2004£m £m

Sales 34.8 36.5 (5% )

Loss (0.7) (0.4)

Margin - -

Fleet Capex 5.7 4.2

Hire Station

• Disappointing results

• Turnover reflects exit in prior year of surplus

locations

• Lifting Point responsible for majority of losses

• Tool hire profitable after a difficult 1st Quarter

• Repositioning year restoring stability

• Focus on core product lines and guaranteed availability

• Launch of regional hire desk structure• Lower cost network supporting local, regional and

national customers• Specialist Products Division created December

2004• Hire Station commenced New Year in line with

plan

Hire Station

Portable rail infrastructure equipment, lighting and related services for the railway renewals and maintenance industry.

Torrent Trackside

Torrent Trackside

31 March 2005 31 March 2004£m £m

Sales 13.3 11.6 +15%

Profit 2.5 2.3 +8%

Margin 18.8% 19.8%

Fleet Capex 1.5 1.8

• Strong performance in challenging year

• Renewals business – further expansion

• Maintenance business steady but in transition

• Network Rail maintenance plant tender

• London Underground – new area for growth

• Prospects positive overall in competitive market

Torrent Trackside

Summary

• A further year of excellent progress

• Profitability underpinned by cash generation and strong

balance sheet

• Hire Station well positioned to deliver recovery in coming

year

• Management appetite for growth and incentivised

accordingly

• Top quality teams across all divisions

• Opportunities to accelerate pace of growth within core

expertise of asset management

Overview and Outlook

Jeremy Pilkington

Chairman

Turnover (£m)

59.866.8

75.583.5

90.0

50556065707580859095

100

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Profit Before Tax (pre goodwill) (£m)

3.3

6.57.8 8.6

9.8

0123456789

10

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005*excluding prior year exceptional property profit

*

Return on Capital Employed (%)

7.4

12.414.8 15.7 16.5

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Restated UITF38

%

Dividend (pence per share)

4.05 4.24.5

5.0

5.75

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

5.5

6

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Earnings per share (pence)

5.03

10.2312.36 13.19

15.04

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

*excluding prior year exceptional property profit

*

Total Shareholder Return

• Market leader position strengthened

• Excellent acquisition identification and integration track record

• AMP4 – expect delays but very positive

Groundforce

• Market leader - unique service offering

• Converting larger users

• Housebuilding remains firm; prospects good

• Operational efficiency consistently driving up ROCE

- 2002 : 10.5% 2005 : 14.4%

UK Forks

• Market Leader

• Excellent year – strategy bearing fruit

• Oil industry activity strong

• International growth opportunities

• Small but vital role in oilfield supply chain

Airpac Oilfield Services

• Very disappointing year, behind management expectation

• Improving trend established within tools

• Reorganisation and refocus at Specialist Products

• Recovery plan back on track but behind schedule

Hire Station

• Clear market leader

• Another excellent year against background of industry change

• Challenge to replace NR maintenance plant volumes

• Renewals programme workload strong

• Significant opportunities within LUL but will take time

Torrent Trackside

• Overall outlook for the Group very positive

- UK infrastructure spend set to continue

- Safety and regulatory regimes supporting growth

• Breadth of markets gives earnings resilience

• Strength of balance sheet and cash flow gives significant investment capacity

• Growth opportunities, organic and acquisition, identified in all markets

Group Outlook

• Board committed to leveraging up

• All levels of management strongly incentivised to deliver earnings growth in their business

• Strengthened senior management team

Group Outlook