(SIV.L) St Ives PLC Buy/Sell

Commenting on the results, Patrick Martell, Chief Executive of St Ives, said:

"Following the actions taken during 2009, we are pleased to report an improvement in the Group's profitability, despite reduced volumes and pricing pressure leading to lower revenues.

"While we are not anticipating any immediate improvement in our underlying markets, we will continue our focus on cross selling where we have existing relationships and further develop our offering to new and existing customers. This will, we believe, allow us to make progress during these difficult times and to take advantage of better market conditions in due course."

For further information contact:

St Ives plc 020 7928 8844

Miles Emley, Chairman Patrick Martell, Chief Executive Matt Armitage, Finance Director
Smithfield 020 7360 4900

John Antcliffe Rupert Trefgarne

CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S STATEMENT

Results

The results for the Group for the 26 weeks ended 29 January 2010 show an underlying* profit before tax of £8.4 million (2009 £6.2 million).

As indicated in our pre close update, Group revenues of £187.1 million were lower than for the equivalent period in the prior year (2009 £208.0 million) as a result of a combination of reduced volume and price pressure. The reduction in net sales, after the deduction of materials and sub-contracting costs, has however, been partially mitigated by an improved work mix. Underlying* gross margins have improved by approximately 2% as a result of the actions taken to reduce labour costs and also due to lower energy costs. Actions taken to reduce net debt from £19.0 million at the end of the previous financial year to £5.4 million have resulted in significantly lower interest charges.

Dividend

The board has declared an interim dividend of 1.75p per share (2009 1.75p per share) which, this year, will be payable on 1 April 2010 to shareholders on the register at 19 March 2010.

Media Products

Revenues from our book customers again increased modestly as we continued to benefit from our superior levels of service and extended added value offering. The recent investments into an integrated digital production line and automated warehouse have been a success and our book business continues to be strong, with volumes looking robust moving forward.

Magazine volumes continue to be impacted by reduced pagination and migration online for some content and advertising spend. In spite of the actions taken on cost, including the closure of our Andover facility, we experienced a loss in this area. Excess manufacturing capacity in the sector still exists and our focus is on those products and for those customers where high levels of service and quality are required. We continue to keep the cost base of this business under close review and will take further action should it become necessary.

Commercial Products

The markets for direct mail and general commercial printing remain particularly tough and excess capacity still exists despite the failure of a number of competitors and the closure of our Crayford facility in 2009. Our reduced cost base, well invested plants and actions taken to extend our added value offering have helped us to remain competitive, although sufficient volume to achieve effective utilisation remains a challenge.

Our businesses serving the point of sale market continue to benefit from good overall levels of demand. However, margins remain under pressure and as a result we have had to decline some work offered at uneconomic price levels. It is likely that this margin pressure will continue into the second half of our financial year.

There are some early signs within the market for exhibitions and events that activity is picking up, despite a reduction in first half volumes versus the prior year. We have made a number of changes to the senior management team and sales structure which will ensure we are well positioned to take advantage should that pick-up in activity result in increased volumes. Whilst visibility is limited, we expect the performance in the second half of the year to show an improvement compared to last year.

Balance Sheet

The Group's balance sheet remains robust; the businesses are very well invested and we expect capital expenditure going forward to continue to be below historic levels. Market conditions continue to be tough but, as can be seen from the results, we have improved Group profits and reversed the loss made in the Commercial Products segment. Our financial strength has further improved following our actions on costs, our focus on working capital and tight control of capital expenditure.

Outlook

We are not anticipating any immediate improvement in our underlying markets. Our focus across the Group is to cross sell where we have existing relationships and further develop our added value offering to new and existing customers. In addition, throughout the Group we are focused on driving more volume through the businesses but with particular regard to seasonality and optimising work mix.

We believe that continuing management actions and our financial strength will enable us to continue to make progress during these particularly difficult times and to take advantage of any upturn in our markets when it occurs.

Patrick Martell

Chief Executive

9 March 2010

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT

26 weeks to 29 January 2010

Before Restructuring
restructuring costs,
costs, provision
provision releases and
releases and other one-off 26 weeks to 52 weeks to
other one-off items 30 January 31 July
items (note 4) Total 2009 2009

£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

Revenue(note 2) 187,076 298 187,374 207,971 386,782
Cost of sales (144,195) (755) (144,950) (165,501) (311,423)

Gross profit 42,881 (457) 42,424 42,470 75,359
Selling costs (12,046) (106) (12,152) (13,934) (28,610)
Administrative expenses (21,771) (1,377) (23,148) (22,771) (50,800)
Other operating 201 1,844 2,045 558 (331)
income/(expense)

Profit/(loss) from operations 9,265 (96) 9,169 6,323 (4,382)
(note 2)
Investment income 6,663 - 6,663 6,394 12,857
Finance costs (7,521) - (7,521) (8,310) (15,716)

Profit/(loss) before tax 8,407 (96) 8,311 4,407 (7,241)
Income tax (charge)/credit (2,648) 1,009 (1,639) (1,345) 916
(note 5)

Profit/(loss) for the period 5,759 913 6,672 3,062 (6,325)
from continuing operations
Loss from discontinued - - - (9,773) (8,233)
operations

Net profit/(loss) for the 5,759 913 6,672 (6,711) (14,558)

period

Basic and diluted earnings/
(losses) per share(note 7)
From continuing operations 5.59p 0.88p 6.47p 2.97p (6.14)p

From continuing and 5.59p 0.88p 6.47p (6.51)p (14.13)p
discontinued operations

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

26 weeks to 26 weeks 52 weeks
to to
29 January 30 January 31 July

£'000 £'000 £'000

Profit/(loss) for the period 6,672 (6,711) (14,558)

Exchange gains on translating - 275 275

foreign operations Transfer to profit and loss from
equity of exchange - (235) (235)
differences on disposal of

foreign operations and
repayment of group hedging loan

Actuarial (losses)/gains on (11,306) 12,375 (5,511)

defined benefits pension scheme
(Losses)/gains on cash flow hedges (34) 586 209

taken to equity
Tax charge/(credit) on items taken 3,170 (3,629) 1,491

directly to equity

Other comprehensive (8,170) 9,372 (3,771)

(expense)/income for the period

Total comprehensive (1,498) 2,661 (18,329)

(expense)/income for the period

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

Hedging

Capital Share and

Share Share ESOP redemption option translation Retained

capital premium reserve reserve reserve reserve earnings Total

£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

Balance at 10,355 46,689 (1,913) 1,238 149 (40) 98,392 154,870
1 August 2008

Loss for the period - - - - - - (6,711) (6,711)

Other comprehensive
income for the - - - - - 462 8,910 9,372
period

Dividends - - - - - - (12,521) (12,521)

Recognition of share- - - - - 52 - - 52
based payments

Balance at 10,355 46,689 (1,913) 1,238 201 422 88,070 145,062
30 January 2009

Loss for the period - - - - - - (7,847) (7,847)

Other comprehensive
expense for the - - - - - (265) (12,878) (13,143)
period

Dividends - - - - - - (1,803) (1,803)

Release of share- - - - - (201) - - (201)
based payments

Balance at 31 July 10,355 46,689 (1,913) 1,238 - 157 65,542 122,068

Profit for the period - - - - - - 6,672 6,672

Other comprehensive
expense for the - - - - - (30) (8,140) (8,170)
period

Dividends - - - - - - (515) (515)

Balance at 10,355 46,689 (1,913) 1,238 - 127 63,559 120,055
29 January 2010

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

29 January 30 January 31 July

£'000 £'000 £'000

Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment 118,162 126,367 122,178
Goodwill 46,274 46,273 46,274
Other intangible assets 1,006 1,362 1,215
Deferred tax assets 6,648 - 3,484
Financial assets 3,315 3,469 3,109
Other non-current assets 809 1,832 1,415

176,214 179,303 177,675

Current assets
Inventories 11,027 12,681 10,642
Trade and other receivables 69,259 97,650 71,685
Current tax receivable - - 1,666
Derivative financial instruments 176 - 209
Cash and cash equivalents 13,704 492 14,016
Assets held for sale - 1,282 1,282

94,166 112,105 99,500

Total assets 270,380 291,408 277,175

Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 76,258 77,124 74,429
Loans and bank overdrafts - 3,199 33,016
Other financial liabilities - 39 -
Current tax liabilities 516 504 -
Provisions 1,746 983 5,421
Deferred income 706 611 851

79,226 82,460 113,717

Non-current liabilities
Loans 19,120 36,173 -
Retirement benefit obligations (note 48,836 20,920 38,283

Deferred income 650 1,095 983
Provisions 953 936 582
Deferred tax liabilities 1,540 4,762 1,542

71,099 63,886 41,390

Total liabilities 150,325 146,346 155,107

Net assets 120,055 145,062 122,068

Capital and reserves
Share capital 10,355 10,355 10,355
Other reserves 46,141 46,637 46,171
Retained earnings 63,559 88,070 65,542

Total equity 120,055 145,062 122,068

These interim statements were approved by the board of directors on 9 March 2010.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT

26 weeks to 26 weeks to 52 weeks
to
29 January 30 January 31 July

£'000 £'000 £'000

Operating activities
Cash generated from operations 18,304 6,112 33,807

(note 9)
Interest received 2 - -
Interest paid (612) (1,435) (1,779)
Income taxes received/(paid) 544 (2,647) (2,680)

Net cash generated from 18,238 2,030 29,348

operating activities

Investing activities
Purchase of property, plant (7,327) (10,548) (19,197)

and equipment
Purchase of other intangibles (130) (265) (613)
Proceeds on disposal of 3,422 4,620 4,965

property, plant and equipment
Disposal proceeds of - 17,764 20,608

subsidiary, net of cash disposed

Net cash (used in)/generated (4,035) 11,571 5,763

from investing activities

Financing activities
Capital element of finance - (191) (230)

lease rentals
Dividends paid (note 6) (515) (12,521) (14,324)
Decrease in bank loans (14,000) (10,117) (12,961)
Increase in bank overdrafts - 3,199 -

Net cash used in financing (14,515) (19,630) (27,515)

activities

Net (decrease)/increase in cash (312) (6,029) 7,596

and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at 14,016 5,635 5,635

beginning of period
Effect of foreign exchange rate - 886 785

changes

Cash and cash equivalents at end 13,704 492 14,016

of period(note 9)

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. Basis of preparation

The interim statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS34 "Interim Financial Statements", the recognition and measurement principles of International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union, and those parts of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies reporting under IFRS.

Going concern

The directors, having made appropriate enquiries, consider that adequate resources exist for the Group to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and that, therefore, it is appropriate to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the combined financial information for the twenty six weeks ended 29 January 2010.

The interim statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in the Group's Annual Report and Accounts for 2009 except as outlined below. The interim statements have not been audited or reviewed.

Changes in accounting policy

In the current financial year, the Group has adopted International Financial Reporting Standard 8 "Operating Segments" and IAS1 "Presentation of Financial Statements (revised 2007)" and amendments to IAS23 "Borrowing Costs" came into effect.

IAS1 has resulted in the renaming of certain of the primary financial statements and requires that the condensed combined statement of changes in equity shows the changes in each component of equity. IFRS8 requires operating segments to be identified on the basis of internal reports about the components of the Group that are regularly reviewed by the Chief Operating Decision Maker to allocate resources to segments and to assess their performance, and has not resulted in a change to the way the Group identifies or presents operating segments.

IAS23 requires borrowing costs that are directly attributable to the acquisition, construction, or production of a qualifying asset to be capitalised and has not led to any borrowing costs being capitalised in the twenty six weeks ended 29 January 2010.

In addition, the Group has changed the policy for columnar presentation of income statement items. Items are now presented in the middle column under the heading "restructuring costs, provision releases and other one-off items" if they are significant in size and do not occur in the normal course of business, or if they represent the operating results of a site arising after a formal decision on its closure has been taken. The adoption of this policy resulted in the operating loss of the Andover site arising after 31 August 2009 being presented in the middle column.

The interim statements and prior half and full year comparatives do not comprise statutory accounts for the purpose of Section 435 of the Companies Act 2006. The abridged information for the fifty two weeks to 31 July 2009 has been extracted from the Group's statutory accounts for that period which have been filed with the Registrar of Companies. The Auditor's report on the accounts of the Group for that period was unqualified, did not draw attention to any matters by way of emphasis and did not contain a statement under Sections 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.

Risks and uncertainties

The board continuously assesses and monitors the key risks of the business. The key risks that could affect the Group's medium term performance and the factors that mitigate those risks have not substantially changed from those set out in pages 23 and 24 and 98 to 100 of the Group's 2009 Annual Report and Accounts, a copy of which is available on the Group's web site: www.st-ives.co.uk. The key financial risks are interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, credit risk and liquidity risk.

2. Segment reporting

The Group manages its business on a market segment basis. Inter-segment sales are charged at arm's length prices. Corporate costs are allocated to revenue generating segments as this presentation better reflects their profitability.

Business segments

26 weeks to 29 January 2010

Media Commercial
Products Products Elimination Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

Revenue
External sales 77,789 109,585 - 187,374
Inter-segment sales 1,362 1,799 (3,161) -

Total revenue 79,151 111,384 (3,161) 187,374

Result
Segmental result 6,955 2,214 - 9,169
Add back restructuring 808 (712) - 96

costs, provision releases and

other one-off items

Segmental result before 7,763 1,502 - 9,265

restructuring costs, provision

releases and other one-off items

Total restructuring costs, (96)

provision releases and other

one-off items

Profit from operations 9,169
Investment income 6,663
Finance costs (7,521)

Profit before tax 8,311
Income tax expense (1,639)

Profit for the period from 6,672

continuing operations

26 weeks to 30 January 2009

Media Commercial
Products Products Elimination Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

Revenue
External sales 83,921 124,050 - 207,971
Inter-segment sales 439 2,680 (3,119) -

Total revenue 84,360 126,730 (3,119) 207,971

Result
Segmental result 7,833 (1,510) - 6,323
Add back restructuring 383 1,367 - 1,750

costs, provision releases and

other one-off items

Segmental result before 8,216 (143) - 8,073

restructuring costs, provision

releases and other one-off items

Total restructuring costs, (1,750)

provision releases and other

one-off items

Profit from operations 6,323
Investment income 6,394
Finance costs (8,310)

Profit before tax 4,407
Income tax expense (1,345)

Profit for the period from 3,062

continuing operations

52 weeks to 31 July 2009

Media Commercial
Products Products Elimination Total
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

Revenue
External sales 154,492 232,290 - 386,782
Inter-segment sales 1,344 3,460 (4,804) -

Total revenue 155,836 235,750 (4,804) 386,782

Result
Segmental result 7,257 (11,639) - (4,382)
Add back restructuring 5,084 9,448 - 14,532

costs, provision releases and

other one-off items

Segmental result before 12,341 (2,191) - 10,150

restructuring costs, provision

releases and other one-off items

Total restructuring costs, (14,532)

provision releases and other

one-off items

Profit from operations (4,382)
Investment income 12,857
Finance costs (15,716)

Loss before tax (7,241)
Income tax credit 916

Loss for the period from (6,325)

continuing operations

Geographical segments

The Media Products and Commercial Products business segments operate primarily in the UK, deriving more than 90% of their revenues and profits from operations and customers located in the UK.

3. Seasonality

Group sales are more heavily weighted towards the first half of the financial year, with approximately 54% of revenue recognised in the first half of the fifty two week period ended 31 July 2009.

4. Restructuring costs, provision releases and other one-off items

Restructuring costs, provision releases and other one-off items disclosed on the face of the consolidated income statement in respect of continuing operations are as follows:

26 weeks to 26 weeks 52 weeks
to to
29 January 30 January 31 July

£'000 £'000 £'000

Expense/(income) Restructuring items
Redundancies, impairments and 1,764 2,149 13,801

other charges
(Gain)/loss on disposal of fixed (1,844) - 807

assets and assets

held for sale
Profit on disposal of music and - (420) (345)

multimedia business
Andover operating loss 176 - -

96 1,729 14,263

Other
Costs associated with the - 21 19

closure of the defined

benefits pension scheme to future accruals
Press fire - - 250

96 1,750 14,532
Related income tax (1,009) (533) (3,114)

(913) 1,217 11,418

Andover operating loss

26 weeks to 26 weeks 52 weeks
to to
29 January 30 January 31 July

£'000 £'000 £'000

Income/(expense)
Revenue 298 - -
Cost of sales (332) - -

Gross loss (34) - -
Administrative expenses (142) - -

Operating loss (176) - -

Redundancies, impairments and other charges in the period includes redundancies (£691,000) and other restructuring costs within the Media Products and Commercial Products segments. The Romford site, classified as an asset held for sale at 31 July 2009, was sold on 8 October 2009 resulting in a profit of £1,614,000. The sale of property, plant and equipment from the Andover site after the site closure gave rise to a gain of £230,000 in the period.

"Andover operating loss" comprises the operating loss incurred at the Andover site after the decision to close on 31 August 2009.

Income tax includes a credit of £544,000 related to the Group's Dutch subsidiary, St Ives Uden BV, as detailed in note 5 below.

5. Tax

Tax on profit of continuing operations as shown in the income statement is as follows:

26 weeks to 26 weeks 52 weeks
to to
29 January 30 January 31 July

£'000 £'000 £'000

Expense/(income)
United Kingdom income tax 2,183 1,345 (818)
Overseas income tax (544) - (98)

1,639 1,345 (916)

Overseas income tax includes a credit of £544,000 related to the carry back and offset of taxable losses against prior year profits in the Group's Dutch subsidiary, St Ives Uden BV.

6. Dividends

26 weeks 26 weeks 52 weeks
to to to
29 January 30 January 31 July

per share £'000 £'000 £'000
Final dividend paid for the 52 12.15p - 12,521 12,521

weeks ended
1 August 2008
Interim dividend paid for the 1.75p - - 1,803

26 weeks ended
30 January 2009
Final dividend paid for the 52 0.5p 515 - -

weeks ended
31 July 2009

Dividends paid during the 515 12,521 14,324

period

Proposed interim dividend for 1.75p 1,803

the 26 weeks
ended 29 January 2010

7. Earnings per share

Number of shares

26 weeks to 26 weeks 52 weeks
to to
29 January 30 January 31 July

million million million

Weighted average and diluted weighted average number
of ordinary shares for the purposes of basic earnings 103.1 103.1 103.1
per share

Basic and diluted earnings per share

26 weeks to 26 weeks to 52 weeks to
29 January 2010 30 January2009 31 July 2009

Earnings Earnings Earnings
Earnings per share Earnings per share Earnings per share
£'000 pence £'000 pence £'000 pence

Earnings and earnings per share from
continuing activities
Earnings and basic earnings per share 6,672 6.47 3,062 2.97 (6,325) (6.14)
Restructuring costs, provision releases (913) (0.88) 1,217 1.18 11,418 11.08
and other one-off items

Underlying earnings and underlying 5,759 5.59 4,279 4.15 5,093 4.94
earnings per share

Earnings and earnings per share from
discontinued activities
Losses and basic losses per share - - (9,773) (9.48) (8,233) (7.99)
Restructuring costs, provision releases - - 10,249 9.94 8,709 8.45
and other one-off items

Underlying earnings and underlying - - 476 0.46 476 0.46
earnings per share

Basic earnings/(losses) per share
from continuing and discontinued 6.47 (6.51) (14.13)
activities

Underlying earnings is calculated by adding back restructuring costs, provision releases and other one-off items, as adjusted for tax, to the profit for the period.

8. Retirement benefits

The net liability in respect of retirement benefit obligations of £48.8 million at the balance sheet date has increased compared to 31 July 2009 (£38.2 million) due primarily to a decrease in the discount rate from 6.0% at 31 July 2009 to 5.4% at 29 January 2010.

9. Notes to the consolidated cash flow statement

Reconciliation of cash generated from operations

26 weeks to 26 weeks 52 weeks
to to
29 January 30 January 31 July

£'000 £'000 £'000

Profit/(loss) from continuing 9,169 6,323 (4,382)

operations
Loss from discontinued operations - (9,547) (9,547)

Adjustments for:
Depreciation of property, plant 9,421 11,506 20,760

and equipment
Loss on disposal of subsidiary - 10,554 10,554
Impairment losses - - 2,219
Amortisation of intangible 325 520 923

assets
(Gain)/loss on disposal of (2,045) (525) 368

property, plant and

equipment
Foreign exchange gains - (397) (204)
Deferred income credit (478) (480) (351)
Share-based payment - 51 (149)

charge/(credit)
Decrease in retirement benefits (1,000) (15,683) (16,805)

obligations
(Decrease)/increase in (3,303) (978) 2,768

provisions

Operating cash inflows before 12,089 1,344 6,154

movements in working
capital
(Increase)/decrease in (385) (1,790) 260

inventories
Decrease/(increase) in 2,930 (5,406) 17,594

receivables
Increase in payables 3,670 11,964 9,799

Cash generated from operations 18,304 6,112 33,807

Analysis of net debt

1 August Exchange 29 January
2009 Cash flow movements 2010
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

Cash and cash equivalents 14,016 (312) - 13,704
Bank loans (33,016) 14,000 (104) (19,120)

(19,000) 13,688 (104) (5,416)

Cash and cash equivalents (which are presented as a single class of assets on the face of the balance sheet) comprise cash at bank and other short-term highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less. The effective interest rates on cash and cash equivalents are based on current market rates.

Cash flows from discontinued operations

Included within the cash flow statement are the following cash flows from discontinued operations:

26 weeks to 26 weeks 52 weeks
to to
29 January 30 January 31 July

£'000 £'000 £'000

Net cash generated from - 1,691 1,691

operating activities
Net cash generated from - 2,232 2,232

investing activities

Net increase in cash from - 3,923 3,923

discontinued operations

10. Related parties

The nature of related party transactions of the Group has not changed from those described in Group's consolidated financial statements for the fifty two week period ended 31 July 2009. There were no transactions with related parties during the twenty six week period 29 January 2010 which had a material effect on the results or financial position of the Group.

11. A copy of these interim statements will be available shortly on the Group's website and will be sent to all shareholders.

12. Responsibility statement

We confirm that, to the best of our knowledge:

· the condensed set of financial statements has been prepared in accordance with IAS34 "Interim Financial Reporting";

· the interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7R (indication of important events during the first six months of the year and descriptions of principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the year); and

· the interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR4.2.8R (disclosure of related parties' transactions and changes therein).

By order of the board

Patrick Martell

Chief Executive

9 March 2010

The foregoing contains forward looking statements made by the directors in good faith based on information available to them up to 9 March 2010. Such statements need to be read with caution due to inherent uncertainties, including economic and business risk factors underlying such statements.

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