Vehicle body structure design/manufacturer Wagon has announced pre-tax profits of £14.1m (2002 = £22.2m). The 2002 profits had been buoyed by £9.1m from sale of its storage systems division.

Sales from continuing operations were up 6 per cent to £408.9m (2002: £384.4m).

The company's net debt has been reduced to £51.6m (2002: £91.6m) including £56.1 million from sale if the storage systems division.

Chairman David Kendall says: “Following the sale of the storage systems division in July, Wagon is now a focused automotive business.

“After a strong finish to last year our new financial year has started encouragingly with a number of recently launched models performing well. Customer production schedules for our mix of vehicles remain relatively robust and we expect the year to benefit from the effects of the various cost saving initiatives and rationalisation programme previously announced.

“Despite uncertainties about the overall volumes of European car sales and the effects of steel price increases, we are optimistic that our underlying results will show an improvement in the current year.”