Heywood makes Coldseal provision

HEYWOOD Williams, the UK's biggest maker of plastic door and window frames, will make a bad debt provision in its full-year results for £700,000, owed by the new owners of Coldseal, its troubled former retail double glazing arm.

In August last year, Heywood sold Coldseal to Carthium Group which ceased trading this week. The company holds a 19.9% stake in Carthium, now valued in its books at zero.

Heywood still expects its results for 2004 to be in line with market expectations, but added that profitability will be reduced by around £2m a year.

Heywood reported a £72m loss for 2003 after a raft of business closures and fire sales and the continuing underperformance of its core plastics building products operations. It axed the final dividend, leaving a total payout of 5.25p against 15p last time.

Coldseal has been the subject of numerous consumer complaints.

Heywood shares, down 1p at 86 1/2p, have plunged from a five-year peak of 274p.