1998 Profit before tax of 272.4m includes a profit of 144.0m net from the disposal of Ohmeda and an exceptional charge of 167.3m relating to a strategic review. Excluding these, profit before tax would have been 295.7m for the 9 months and 102.6m for the third quarter. Continuing business turnover and operating profit, excluding exceptional items and Ohmeda were as shown in the table below.
Comparisons are with a year ago and adjusted to constant currency.
On the same basis, profit before tax was up 7 per cent for the nine months and 12 per cent for the quarter and earnings per share were up 11 per cent for the nine months and 15 per cent for the quarter. This led to the disposal of the Ohmeda health care business and various organisational changes designed to form the foundation for globalising the company and making sure the organisation mirrored our customers' needs. Our new lines of business that focus on customer groups with similar business requirements have already resulted in a number of substantial contracts such as the recently announced project to supply BP in Australia. Rapid progress has been made and we are now seeing the most radical changes made in BOC for twenty years. At this stage exceptional costs of 167m have been charged to cover reorganisation costs, reduction in asset values and investment in business systems.