st ives plc
 annual report and accounts 201 0 our group today
contents
st ives is a unique group of marketleading companies that combine to provide the uk’s 
most diverse range of marketing print and display services
from the latest bestsellers new car brochures giant advertising hoardings and magazines 
to high street window displays and exhibition graphics – our products touch many aspects 
of everyday life in more ways than might be imagined there is definitely more to us than 
meets the eye
by focusing on customer service and by working together as a united operation st ives 
group offers total marketing services and marketing production solutions second to none
our goal is to grow and diversify the business while adding value for our stakeholders  
we aim to do this by following our focused strategy 
 overview
1 highlights
2 st ives group at a glance
4 chairman’s statement
 business review
6 chief executive’s review
7  key financial performance indicators
8  strategy
10  strategy in action
22  performance
   media products
   commercial products
26 financial review
30 corporate and social responsibility
 corporate governance
35 directors’ report
43 statement of directors’ responsibilities
44 board of directors
45 directors’ remuneration report
 our figures
55 independent auditors’ report to the members of st ives plc the group
57 consolidated income statement
58 consolidated statement of comprehensive income
59 consolidated statement of changes of equity
60 consolidated balance sheet
61 consolidated cash flow statement
62 notes to the consolidated financial statements
99 independent auditors’ report to the members of st ives plc the company
101 company balance sheet
102 notes to the company financial statements
 useful information
1 10 five year record
111 financial calendar
112 shareholder information  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  1
highlights
how we performed
financial highlights
£3623m
revenue  
2009 £3868m
£144m
underlying profit before tax  
2009 £7 3m
£81m
profit before tax  
2009 loss £7 2m
965p
underlying earnings per share  
2009 494p
751p
earnings per share  
2009 loss 6 14p
350p
t otal dividends per share 
2009 225p per share
operational highlights
the following steps have been taken to rationalise the business and reduce costs
 
romford property
 
and closure of hayes site

the group’s position is being consolidated by management






£27m
net debt  
2009 £190m


 2 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010
st ives group at a glance
 
media and commercial

data and marketing offering of our commercial 
 
we continue to invest in the development of our 
 
and portfolio of online software solutions
2009
1545
2010
1472
sales £m
200
150
100
50
0
2009
123
2010
136
operating profit £m
15
12
9
3
6
0
media products
contribution to group sales
group
media products
41
commercial products
59

 22
 19


 28
 22
e   exhibitions  
and events 9
 1

a
b
e
f
d
c
books
 
160 million books each year – 
from classics to bestsellers 
such as the t wilight series
magazines

production of more than  
400 million individual products 

monthlies and specialist titles
 
 
logistics
locations
 
london
 
fulfilment services
locations
london 
peterborough 
plymouth 
roche

see case study page 12 see case study page 10  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  3
2009
2323
2010
2147
sales £m
250
150
200
100
50
0
2009
22
2010
24
operating profit £m
6
3
0
3
commercial products

direct response 
and commercial

reputation for the production  

corporate and marketing 

support this offering with  
data services and digital  
multichannel marketing 
campaign solutions
point of sale

brands and retailers rely on  



logistics and related added 
value services
data marketing

data insight services are 
empowering marketing 
communications for some  

organisations
exhibitions  
and events

materials are used across 
many markets for application 



showrooms and  
experiential marketing
 
 
personalisation 

 

fine art printing 

 
 
print management
locations
 
 
leeds 
london
retail and brand 
point of sale 
research 
 
logistics 

locations
 
 
redditch
 
 
 

location

 
graphics production 
giant media 
 
exhibition and events 
 

branding
locations
edenbridge 
glasgow  
london 
nottingham 
 


see case study page 16 see case study page 18 4 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010
chairman’s statement
introduction
 
 

 



 



manage working capital more aggressively  progress has also been made in realising 
surplus assets
dividends



appropriate in current economic conditions
current trading
great efforts have been made to concentrate on those segments of the market where 

and added value services in addition to the core printed product this focus will 

towards the end of the financial year marks an important step in the development of 
additional communication and marketing services associated with the supply of  
printed material
miles emley
  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  5
“ great efforts have been made to 
concentrate on those segments of the 
market where customers’ needs match 
our capabilities ”
the board

– especially to be commended in the current challenging economic climate and given 





outlook

terms of trade in any of our markets will improve significantly in the immediate future  

overall return for our shareholders and will keep all our capabilities under close review  
to ensure that our own facilities remain appropriate to the needs of the marketplace  
 
to enhance the development of the business through the addition of complementary 


services rather than commodity print
miles emley

 6 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010

progress as the group continues to 
restructure its activities and implement 
plans to reposition the business


and improve the work mix across the 
group the reduction in net debt to  

the success of the actions taken and 
 

investment in our existing businesses
t rading conditions during the year 
continued to be very challenging and 
whilst we are yet to see any easing of 

are signs that volumes are stabilising  
 
in sales of 3 in the second half compares 
favourably to the 10 fall recorded in  
the first half underlying group sales 
revenue of £361 9 million was 6 lower 
compared to the previous year but  

made significant progress in improving 
underlying operating profits to £160 million 

work mix and the actions taken to 
 
we are pleased to have further 
strengthened the balance sheet
chief executive’s review
patrick martell
  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  7
 
strategic objectives 
key financial performance indicators
the board uses a range of key 

measure past performance and as a basis 
for future planning the most significant 


previously reported and have been 
updated to reflect the board’s key priorities 

environmental and employee matters are 


2009
11
2010
64
4
6
8
2
0
2
4
revenue growth 
2009
26
2010
44
1
0
2
3
4
5
underlying operating 
margin 
2009
337
2010
213
100
0
200
300
400
cash conversion 
2009
494
2010
965
2
0
4
6
8
10
underlying earnings 
per share pence
2009
225
2010
350
1
0
2
3
4
5
dividends per share pence
 

“ the group continues to restructure 
its activities and implement plans to 
reposition the business ” 8 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010
chief executive’s review continued
strategy

already made good progress in 

improving efficiencies and margins and  
in developing our added value offerings 


businesses we believe will continue to 
generate acceptable returns and 
extended our offerings following the 



differentiated only by price and to focus 
upon customers where there is a 
 

customers and to add value through
 
both manufacturing solutions and other 
services linked to the effective use of print
the group benefits from strong 
relationships with blue chip organisations 

to cross sell into the existing customer base 
is ongoing and we are pleased with the 

in further strengthening and developing 
our sales resource throughout the group 
and in building a group sales team



enable us to offer integrated solutions  

complex manufacture and fulfilment  
from a single source
our strategic objectives


stabilise
reduce cost 

consolidate


new senior management 
grow

extend range of services
  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  9


capabilities and providing us with data 
gathering and data analysis expertise 
critical to helping our customers identify 
and gain insight into their target audience 
and to measure return on investment 
 
and the group will benefit from their skills 
and in turn provide them with access  
to markets and customers previously 



organic development

and diversity of products and services 
supplied to a blue chip customer base 
across a number of markets the following 
case studies from across the group help 
illustrate this diversity 
balance sheet
the balance sheet has been further 
strengthened during the year and the 

 
was again lower than depreciation at  
£7 5 million underlying cash flow remains 
robust and net debt for the year end stood 

excellent performance given the impact  
on cash of funding cost reduction actions 


the year but continue to hold some surplus 

 
are in the process of investigating the  



the group’s strong financial position 
ensures we have the necessary flexibility 
to invest to improve our business and take 
advantage of opportunities despite the 
current difficult trading conditions
outlook

driven by both cyclical and structural 

difficult trading conditions but also 
represent an opportunity for us to extend 
and add greater value to our services by 

directly and efficiently to where it is needed 
and to ensuring it is relevant
 
a backdrop of improved financial 
performance and having made good 
progress to execute our strategy  there is 
still much to do and improvements in 
trading conditions are likely to take some 

have taken to date and the strategy we  
are pursuing will ensure the group is well 
placed to take advantage as markets 
recover and that our financial strength  
will support our plans and continue to  
set us apart from our competition
“ our strategy is to focus on customers 
where there is a requirement for quality 
and service ”

 
see page
60 time management 
helps ‘t wilight’ saga
strategy in action
10 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 since th the original p pub ubli lica cati i t on on on o o of fst st s ep ephe heni n e 
meyer’ r’s first no nove vel in in t the h twili i igh gh gh g t t sa sa s ga a cl c ays have 
pr printe ted d ov ver ert ten en m mi illion nb books a a a and nd nd nd m manag a ed their 
distribution n t to oa a wi wide de range of re re re reta ta tailers t the he latest 
the short se seco c nd life of bree ta ta ta ann nn nn ner er er e    an an an a e ecl clip pse se 
no novella w was sl lau a nched in the uk on 5 j j jun n ne e e 20 20 20 2010 10 10 
as a p par art t o of a worldwide publication 
this was stephenie meyer’s first s boo oo oo ok k k kfo fo for r r rtw tw tw two oye y ars 
and the level of anticipation was ex ex x xtr tr tra ao aord rdin inar a y 
requ quirin i g the highest level of s s sec ec ec ecur ur ur u it it ity y y
clays managed the data production fulfilment 
and distribution including 1800 retail display units
our distribution model from print direct to retailers 
achieved a reduction in ‘book miles’ this along 
with an improvement in time management across
the entire project resulted in significant cost 
savings for the client
st ives aims to extend its offering into related 
added value services outside of print in the book 
publishing market the business has invested 
in digital printondemand equipment a new 
distribution centre and data management 
ca ca apa pa pabi bili l ti ti ties t t to o osu u uppor rt delivery of the written 
word rd rd to o oe e readers
there’s more to delivery of a book 
than just the cover
 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  11
clays deliver more than just print for the latest in the t wilight series strategy in action
12 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010
t urning a  
new leaf for  
a valued  
partner  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  13
fo for the e e la la la la la la ast s st st st st st2 2 2 2 20 0 0 0 0ye ye ye e ye ye ye yea ar a a s st ives has been proud to 
pr pr pr p od od od od od od odu u uc uc uce on on on on on on one e e e of the uk’s most famous publications s s s s s 
t t t t ti t t me e e e eo o o o o o ou ut ut strengthening relationships with key 
cl cl cl cl l l clie ie ie ie ie e ient nt nts is a priority for the business
wi with th th th t t t thi hi his s s in n mind st ives developed a new 
pr prop opos os os osit it it i io io ion n ndesigned to address time out’s needs 
in in n the he eir ir f f fas as as ast t t t mo mo movi ing multichannel marketplace 
st t t st i ive ve e e ve v s sco co c nd nd duc uc uc ucte te ted d a a business audit covering g
m ma mark rk k r et et e etin in ing g p pri r nt nt nt nt wo wo wo work rk rk kin ing practices an nd d
pr pr p p p p oc oc cur ur rem em em men en e e t t t the e he e a a a ana na na n ly ly lysi si s s s s s fo fo form rm rmed ed ed t t the he he e b b b bas as as asis is is 
of of of f f f a a a a a b b us us sin ines es e s s spr pr p op opos o al al al alt t t tha ha ha hat t t twa wa wa was s s sbe be be beyo yo yo yond nd nd t the he  
ex xpe pe pe e ect ct c c c c c at atio o ion n of o of o t t tim im ime eou out t 
the implementati t on of th t e e e p pr propos osal als s ha h has s le le e ed d d dto to to a 
consolidation of m m m muc uc uc ch h h of of oft t the he h he he he he m mar arke ke eti ti ing ng ng g s s ser e e e vices 
supply chain a si im mp mpli ifi ica ati ti ion on on on on on o o o o o of f p pr pr proc oc oce e ess and a a 
cost saving for time me me o o out ut ut 
st ives now manages many m m mar ar arke ke keti ti ti ing ng ng g s s s ser er er ervi vi vi v vi vi i v c c ce ce ce c s s 
this work is directed by st ives s s w worki ki king ng ng ng n ng ng w w w wit it it ith h h hti ti ti t me m me m 
out stakeholders and covers m m ma ma ma ma man na na na nage ge ge eme me me ment nt nt nt o o o of f f f
direct marketing campaig ig igns ns ns ns  pr pr r r rin in int t tpr pr pr p od od od o uc uc uc ucti ti ti tion on on on    
p p po p p int of sale production n n fu u fulf lfil ilme men n nt n  di dist st stri ri ribu bu buti ti ti t on on on on a a a and nd nd nd 
u u u ut utilisation of st ives es’ cap p pa abi bili liti ties es i in n n n npers son on nal al al lis is isat at at atio io io ion n n n
in n n n in n in  p     rint and online ma m m rke et etin ng g a add ddit it it itionall ly y y w w w wor or or or r r r r or rk k k k k k k k k ki i is is is is is is is 
un un un n n n nde d d d rway y on data m m manag ag ag g gem emen ent t an n n n and da a a a ra ra ra ra ra ra rang ng ng ng ng n n e e e e of of of o o o o  
oth h h he he h h r services
st iv ve ve ve ve v v s has moved from om om a p p pri r r nt nt s s sup u up u plie e e e e er r r to to to t to b b b bec ec ec com om ome
a valu u u u u u ued busin n nes e s pa art rt rtner a a and n n w w wo o orking g g t t tog og oget t ethe he her 
w we w aim m m m m m m m to achieve shar re e ed go oa oals s s t t tha ha hat t twill b b ben en enef ef efit it it 
bo b b th b b b b b b bus u u inesses for th he e elo l nger er ert t ter er erm m m m
supplying much more than 
magazine production
time out benefits from st ives marketing services proposition  strategy in action
14 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010
‘datastore’ makes  
a difference  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  15
st ives’ research teams visited all 888 of 
sainsbury’s outlets across both retail and 
banking to create an online store database 
detailing every aspect of each site 
this datab base covers many areas from type of 
st st st st st t tor or or or or r o o e e e e e e en n n n num um um um umbe ber of tills existence of a tms and car 
pa pa park rk rks s s  n n  umbe b b b b r f f of of f ofo o o o o out ut u ut t t ut t tdo do do do do do oor or or or or r p p p p p p pos os os os os os oste te te te ter r r r si si site tes  to finer 
details su such c as type pes sof of l lea eafl flet et d dis ispe pensers s ss s s s siz iz iz iz zes es es es es e 
of f of p pos oste ter rsi si ite te tes s an and dth the e am am a a a a ount of space allocate t d 
fo fo fo fo for r r rfr fr ree ee e e standin ing gdisplays ys
over 50000 images were taken to support the 
development of the ‘datastore’ before st ives
proceeded to build the online it solution that 
allows sainsbury’s stakeholders to access 
this information the system now supports the 
management process across the supply chain 
for print display and point of sale materials
‘d d d d dat at at at at a a as as as a tore’ helps managers optimise allocations 
of o display and d d d dp p p p p pro ro ro ro ro omo mo mo mo mo oti ti ti ti ti t on on on o on onal al al al al l m m m m m m mat at aterials to each 
site the creation of accurate allocati ions 
and subsequent reductions in waste have 
de d li live vered significant savings in the first year 
of of imp mpleme m ntation
helping sainsbury’s optimise 
allocations of point of sale materials
st ives survey all sainsbury’s stores to create bespoke ‘datastore’   strategy in action
16 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010
we’ re with  
the army now  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  17
a a at a a a a a t t tim im ime e eof heigh gh ghte te e e tene ne ne ned d d d d dactivity foc c cu u u c se se e e e ed d
re re ecr r r ru ui uit tm m ment into o o the h he he h h h a a ar rm rm r y has neve ve ve ver r rbe be e e e een n n so 
es es sse e e e en nt nti ia al occam am m am m st st sti i ive es’ data mark rk k r r e e etin n n n n ng g 
b bu u u b sin ne ne ne n n s ss s ss have b b b b be ee ee e ee ee e e n n n n en e en e en en ngaged by th he he he e m m mo od od d o o to
d d de e eve ve velo lo lop p a an a a d ma a ana a a a age ge ge g a a a data solution n t t  ha ha hat t t t t tfa faci c c litate e es s s s s
ta a a arg g get et t ted ed r r r rec e e e e rui it itme me me me me me ent t f f for r or or the army  pro o o o o ovi v de de de de es s s s s s s 
in n nsi i s s g ght t t t tin in in into to to to t p p p poten en en n n n n n nt ti ti ti i t al al al al a alr r r r rec ec c ec c ec cru r r r r r r its and evalu u ua a a u u tes the 
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the e e e p p pro o od od od duc uc uc u u t create e ed d pr pr r r r rov o o o ides the he he a a a a a a arm rm rm m rm m m m my y y y yw w wi wi wit th th t t 
a si i in ng g g n n le e e s s s s  ou ou u ourc r e of i inf nf nfor orm m ma m ma mation on pros s s s spe p pe pe e p pe p p p c ct ct t cts s s s  
recr r r rui itm tm tm m men en n e t te events s s s  es es esta ta tab bl b b b b b b ishments and nd nd nd nd a a a a a 
com mp mp pre re r h h he he he ens ns ns ns nsiv iv iv ve view e ew ew o o of f f it it its s s s s srecruitmen n n en n n en en e e e t t t t t t t t t t tpr pr pr pr prac ac ac ac acti ti ti ti t c ce c c c s 
acros s ss s s s s a all l ll l m m m m ed ed ed dia inc nc nc n lu lu lu ludi di di i di d ding ng ng ng ng ng ng ng ng ng gt t t t t t tv v v v v v vc c c c c c cal l a al al al all l l l l l c c c ce en n n nt nt t tre re re re e 
and w w we we we w bs bs sit t t it it t t te e e e e e e e e
th th t th the e e e e s s s system provides the army wit t th f fa f st ter e er e e e er e  mo o o mo ore 
accurate feedb db db b bac ac ac a a k fr f om potential r r rec c cruit t t t t t ts an a d d d 
as a result  f fu ut ut ut utu u ure c ca c ca a c mp m m m aigns can b b be m m m mod od od d odif if ifie e ie ied d d d d
for even gre rea at at ater e ef f f ff f ec e ec ec e t ti t t veness con n nse eq eq q q q que u ue e u ue ue u u nt ntly ly  
recruitmen nt t r re re re r sp p p p p pon n n n n n ns s s se se s s s t times have be e een n n n en n en n r r r r r r r e e e ed d d ed educ uced e e  
enabling the e e he a a a a a a a a ar r r rmy y yto to to t b b bui u u ld a stronger r r r r re re re e ela la la a la la a ati ti t on o sh s s ip 
with its target au a a au au au a a a dien n nce ce ce e a nd drive e e e et t t t t the he h h h h a a a a a a a arm m m m m m m rm m my y’ y’ y s im m mage 
as a forwardthi hi i i in nk nk n n n n in ng g g gem em employer uti t t li isi s ng ng g g g t t t t t t t t th h h he h h l lat ates e e t 
application proc c c ce e e esse se se es s s
data insight helps to recruit the 
best to serve our country 
occam provides the british army with recruitment marketing data solution strategy in action
18 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010
direct mail  
for the mail  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  19
co co co o co o cont nt nt nt nt nt n n ntra ra ra ra ra ra a a rac ct ct c ct t ct t t ted ed to roya ya ya ya al l lm ma ma a a m il il il il s s s s s s si i in in in i ce 200 07 and d d d w w wor or r or orki k k k ng g 
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su su su su su su u u subs s s s bs bs s bs s s bs b id id id id id d id d dia ia a a ia a a ary ry ry ry ry ry ry y ry r o of f f ro ro ro r ya ya ya y l lma ma ma ma ma ma mail il il il il l g gro o ro ro ro ro r up u up up p   s st st st sti i ive ve v ves s s sha ha ha a ha ha ha has s s s s s s s
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cu u u cu u u u ust st st st st t sto om om om om om o er er e er erd d dri iven improv o o o o em m m m m m m m men en en en ents ts s s a a a a a a a a a acr c c os s ss post t t t st t to o o o o o off f f f f f f fic ice e 
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tm tm tm tm tm t tm t tm
e e e e e e e    t t to to to os s s small to o o o
me me me me e me med d di di d d d d um u um um um um ms s s s s s siz iz iz iz iz iz ized ed ed ed ed ed ed b b b b b b bu u u usi i ines s es es esse se se se se s s s s s s d d del el eli iver red ed ed e b b by y yst st t st st s i i i i ive ve ve ve e v ve ves s s s s s 
in in in i i partnership with ired the e e enew service en n en nab ab b bles
c c cu c stomers to quickly easily y y y ly y y y y a a a a a a a and nd nd nd nd n nd n nds s s s s s suc uc uc uc uc c u ce ce ce c ce e ce es ss s s fu u u ull lly y y y
e en en ngage with th th th h th t t t ei ei ei ei ei ei e r r r r r r rma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma k k k rk k k kets
bu bu bu b bu b si i i si s s n n n ne n sses s s u u u use se se se e se s s o o o o o o o o onl nl nl nl nl nlin in in in ine et templates to design
th h h h hei i eir ma m m mail il l l il i i shot choose their own images 
plac ac ac ac a a e orders and have them delivered to their 
cust st st s o om o ers the next day royal mail is printing u up p p p p 
to t 2 2 2 20 0 0 000 mailshots per day – enabling custome e e e e e e e ers s  
t t to to c com om om ommunicate to their markets as never before e e e e
o o ou o r pa pa pa partners ship approach and close wo wo wo wo wo w work rk k rk r r r in n in in ng 
re re ela ati tion on o ship with ired d     ha ha ha ha ha ha h s s s s s s s al al al a a al al a lo lo lo lo lo o lowe we we we we wed d d d d dst s s s s ives t t to t t t t t 
op op p perat ate eac c ac c c cro ro ro ro ross ss ss ss s ss ssa a a a a w w wid id i e portfo oli lio o o o o o of of of of of oft t t t t t the he e he he he her r r r r roy o al mail 
bu busi s ne e e ess s s e e e es e e  ma ma ma ana na na na a nagi gi gi gi gi g ng ng ng ng ng ng ng ngp p p procurement print data 
an an nd dev v ven e e extending to producing exhibition and 
ev e ent work
more than ink on paper we also supply 
royal mail’s exhibition displays
st ives’ partnership with royal mail brings benefits for both businesses  strategy in action
20 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010
delivering the 
‘dream’ with a 
personal touch  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  21
when honda wanted a way of providing its uk
dealers personalised versions of its customer 
magazine ‘dream’ st ives had the ideal solution 
working with river publishing to produce a pilot 
st ives created an online system allowing honda
dealers to choose from different template versions 
of the publication 
as well as allowing dealers to order copies of the 
magazine this webtoprint solution enables 
dealers to customise various elements of the 
master publication including the cover  
accompanying letter  article text imagery 
and dealer contact details
the system which is a module within st ives’ suite 
of software solutions called ‘dna ’  is easy to use 
dealers are able to preview their version of the 
magazine at each stage of the process and 
dealers’ orders are entered in to an approval 
workflow enabling a review of printready artwork
files print production process control turnaround 
times and costs were all improved and evaluation 
is underway with participating dealers with the 
aim to roll out the title from the start of next year
webtoprint innovation creates 
‘dream’ for honda dealers
helping honda dealers to personalise their customer magazine  22 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010
chief executive’s review continued
performance
books
the group’s book business accounted for 54  of media products’ external sales  
sales were broadly flat versus the previous year at £797 million as were net returns
we have renewed a number of our contracts during the year including contracts to 
provide harpercollins with distribution services and also for their manufacturing 
requirements
the investment into an integrated digital book production system has been very 
successful and we are currently commissioning a printondemand digital device 
capable of economically producing single copies of titles as part of our overall service 
offering we are very confident that this device will provide our customers with immediate 
benefit and further extend our offering as a single source solution the new warehouse 
facility has enabled us to offer a unique service whilst reducing the cost and time of 
fulfilment as a result of our superior levels of service and reliability we have again 
produced the majority of the bestselling books which included the following titles
for harpercollins ‘wolf hall’ by hilary mantel for headline ‘hard girls’ by martina cole 
for hodder ‘burning wire’ by jeffery deaver for little brown ‘breaking dawn’ and 
‘t wilight’ by stephenie meyer for orion ‘the return journey’ by maeve binchy for 
penguin ‘driven to distraction’ by jeremy clarkson and ‘ juliet naked’ by nick hornby 
for random house ‘ at home’ by bill bryson for quercus ‘the girl with the dragon t attoo’  
‘the girl who played with fire’ and ‘the girl who kicked the hornet’s nest’ by stieg 
larsson and for t ransworld ‘the lost symbol’ by dan brown
media products
media products represents 4 1  of group external sales this comprises the 
production of books and magazines and associated logistics for the uk market
2010 
£’000
2009 
£’000
media products total revenue before nonunderlying items 147176 154492
media products operating profit before nonunderlying items 13585 1234 1
for media products 
figures see page
70  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  23
“ despite the tough market conditions we have 
made good progress to achieve a better work mix 
across the business ”
magazines
magazines for the consumer  business to business and contract publishing markets 
accounted for 46 of sales in the media products segment sales were 8 lower than 
the previous year but net returns were much improved as a result of the actions taken to 
reduce cost and improve efficiencies
the market remains fiercely competitive with excess capacity continuing to drive  
prices down despite some reduction in overall capacity during the past twelve months 
our focus remains on producing products where there is a demand for service and  
high quality and despite the tough market conditions we have made good progress  
to achieve a better work mix across the business
the closure of the andover plant and transfer of work to other sites was completed 
successfully and following the further announcement to close the edenbridge plant  
part of the direct response and commercial business we have installed one of its two 
presses at the peterborough factory 
we have made progress to improve the throughput at our plants this year following a 
number of actions initiated by the new management team and we are benefiting from 
their broader manufacturing experience in other sectors we will continue to seek 
opportunities to further reduce costs and if necessary remove capacity if we are unable 
to achieve acceptable levels of utilisation and margin whilst the magazine business 
remains loss making it continues to generate positive operating cash flows it is well 
invested with stateoftheart equipment and further progress will be made as market 
conditions improve 24 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010
chief executive’s review continued
direct response and commercial
direct response and commercial printing accounted for 47 of revenues in the 
commercial products segment market conditions continued to be extremely 
challenging and excess capacity again exerted downward pressure on prices  
despite the closure of our facility in crayford during the last financial year  it was 
necessary to take further action to reduce capacity and consequently we announced 
the closure of our facility in edenbridge
sales in the direct response and commercial businesses were significantly down 
compared to the previous year at £1008 million but operating profit benefited from  
the actions to reduce cost improve efficiencies and remove low margin work
point of sale
point of sale material for the uk retailers and international brands represented 38 of 
commercial products revenue at £81 8 million demand continues to be robust but 
ongoing price pressure has impacted upon our revenues and net margins we have 
completed the appointment of a new senior management team into the business and 
have had some high profile wins in the retail market with game stores group and the 
warburtons’ brand
we have made good progress in strengthening relationships with our key retail accounts 
and in addition to the new contract wins commented on above we have renewed our 
contracts with ms wilkinson and bacardi and continue to extend and build upon our 
relationship with sainsbury’s
commercial products
commercial products accounts for approximately 59 of group external sales and 
includes direct response and commercial printing including print management 
services  point of sale for major retailers and brands advertising materials for 
exhibitions and events and our recently acquired database marketing business
we are very pleased to have returned this segment to profit following the loss recorded 
in the previous financial year 
2010 
£’000
2009 
£’000
commercial products total revenue before  
nonunderlying items 214743 232290 
commercial products operating profitloss  before  
nonunderlying items 2428 2 191
for commercial 
products figures  
see page
70  st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010  25
exhibitions and events
sales for the exhibitions events and outdoor media business represented 1 5 of 
commercial product sales
we have seen some signs of improvement in activity during the second half of the  
year and as a result of the previous actions taken to reduce costs we are pleased to 
have returned this business to a modest profit we have announced the move of our 
wandsworth operations to a new site in chessington and a further consolidation of 
manufacturing from salisbury into that new site in addition to the planned new facility   
we have invested in further output devices and it systems to extend our capabilities 
increase capacity and improve efficiency 
the new management team has made a great impact upon the performance of the 
business and we are confident in the team’s ability to further improve the business  
going forward
data management
the occam business was acquired on 1 june 2010 and has therefore had minimal 
impact on the financial results for 20092010 occam is a leading supplier of marketing 
management software and innovative datadriven solutions for direct marketing 
requirements and we are delighted to be able to incorporate their expertise into  
the group
in addition to extending the range of services available within the group occam 
supports our strategy to help our customers maximise returns from their investment  
in print by identifying and targeting the right audience gaining insight into that  
audience and utilising the group’s extensive facilities outputting digitallyproduced 
personalised print
patrick martell
chief executive
5 october 2010
for breakdown of 
acquisition costs 
see page
78 financial review 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 26 
matt armitage
finance director 
 overview of revenue 
underlying revenue for the group from continuing operations reduced by £249 million 64 to 
£3619 million revenue of £09 million is included for occam acquired 1 june 2010 at the half 
year revenue had declined by 10 versus the prior year although this decline slowed in our third 
and fourth quarters to 32 and 11 respectively  
media products’ revenue decreased by £73 million 47 revenue decreased by 14 in the 
books business but market share was maintained magazine revenue decreased by 84 as 
pagination and run length reductions along with title closures offset any new title wins during  
the period the loss of the ipc magazine business did not have a significant effect in the year  
and we have been successful in replacing a significant part of this work for the coming year 
commercial products’ revenue decreased by £175 million 76 direct response and 
commercial revenue declined by 100 partly due to planned reductions in capacity and the 
removal of less profitable work from the overall mix revenue for the point of sale business reduced 
by £70 million 79 partly as a result of margin pressure being passed down the supply chain 
resulting in certain volumes being declined due to unsustainable pricing levels revenue from our 
exhibitions and events business was broadly in line with the prior year although in the second half 
of the financial year we experienced an encouraging increase in activity  
from a geographical point of view 97 of our commercial and media products’ revenue is 
generated within the uk 
 gross margin and underlying profitability 
although the revenue decline detailed above is partly due to pricing pressure gross margins have 
increased to 229 2009 – 217 the margin increase is due to improved work mix lower levels 
of outsourced work improved production efficiencies successful procurement initiatives and the 
labour cost reductions resulting from restructuring activities principally site closures 
sales and administrative overheads decreased by £68 million to 186 of revenue 2009 – 192 
due primarily to the significant headcount reductions that have been made across the group 
associated with the restructuring activities mentioned above 
as a result of these management actions underlying profit before taxation for the group increased 
from £73 million to £144 million 19 to 40 of revenue 
for consolidated 
income statement  
see page 
57   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 27
“ underlying profit before tax increased 
from £73 million to £144 million” 
 nonunderlying items 
the group has undergone further restructuring during the year in order to mitigate the effects  
of the economic downturn remove excess capacity and improve operating performance 
the £63 million charge 2009 – £145 million before tax primarily relates to the closure of our 
edenbridge site and further redundancyrelated costs within our magazines and direct response 
and commercial businesses of £56 million the closure of our hayes site and further redundancy
related costs within our exhibitions and events business of £14 million the closure of excess 
warehousing capacity within our point of sale business of £05 million and transaction costs 
associated with the acquisition of occam of £04 million partially offset by a gain on the sale of  
our romford property of £16 million 
 balance sheet 
the balance sheet has strengthened with net assets increasing to £1299 million  
2009 – £1221 million the movement reflects the profit after taxation of £77 million  
dividends of £23 million and actuarial gains on the defined benefits pension scheme  
net of deferred tax of £24 million 
 net debt 
net debt decreased during the year from £190 million to £27 million the major contributing 
factors to the movement are an improvement in underlying profitability further significant 
improvements in working capital and a further reduction in net capital expenditure 
in september 2009 the group concluded a £700 million committed revolving multicurrency  
credit agreement which expires 31 october 2012 none of the debt is secured 
 capital expenditure and depreciation 
capital expenditure in cash flow terms on property plant and equipment together with additions to 
intangible assets other than in the context of acquisitions was £121 million 2009 – £198 million 
and cash receipts from asset disposals were £46 million 2009 – £50 million depreciation 
amortisation and impairment charged in the year was £202 million 2009 – £239 million all of our 
businesses are very well invested and we are therefore able to operate at reduced levels of capital 
expenditure versus historic levels without any deterioration in our competitive advantage we will 
however continue to invest in those businesses that present opportunities for growth 
 
for details of loans 
and bank overdrafts 
see page 
87  financial review continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 28 
 acquisition 
on 1 june 2010 the group acquired occam dm limited one of the uk’s leading database 
marketing companies the total consideration payable for the business was £117 million 
 tax 
the group’s tax rate on profit before nonunderlying items was 310 2009 – 301 the increase 
is due to a prior year adjustment positively affecting the prior year rate excluding this adjustment 
the underlying rate has reduced due to the leverage effect of higher profits on relatively fixed  
nondeductibles during the 2010 financial year 
 dividends 
the board is recommending a final dividend of 175p bringing the total dividends for the year to 
350p resulting in an underlying cover of 28 times 
the group remains cash generative and net debt in relation to net tangible assets continues to be 
relatively low retained earnings in the group balance sheet at 30 july 2010 were £734 million 
2009 – £655 million 
 pensions 
the deficit on an ias 19 basis in the defined benefits pension scheme at the end of the year 
excluding the related deferred tax asset was £329 million 2009 – £383 million the decrease  
of the deficit is due primarily to an increase in the value of the scheme assets partially offset by  
a decrease in corporate bond yields and therefore the discount rate from 60 to 54 
the charge to underlying operating profit for this scheme was £02 million 2009 – £05 million 
which represents the costs of administering the scheme the income statement also includes a net 
financing cost of £04 million 2009 – £12 million which reflects the fact that the benefits are one 
year closer to being paid less the expected return on assets of the scheme based on market rates 
available at the start of the financial year 
the group contributes £22 million per annum in order to meet its obligations regarding the current 
level of deficit within the scheme 
the triennial valuation for the scheme is underway although it is unlikely that this exercise will be 
completed until the latter half of our new financial year 
for further details on 
retirement benefits 
see page 
89   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 29
 financial risk management and treasury policies 
the main financial risks of the group relate to interest rate liquidity foreign exchange and credit  
in relation to its trade receivables 
the group introduced an internal audit function in 2007 the group’s policy is to test all the 
business’s trade cycles over a threeyear period 
the group’s treasury function is responsible for managing the group’s exposure to financial risk 
and operates within a defined set of policies and procedures approved by the board 
the overall objective of the treasury policy is to use financial instruments to manage the financial 
risks that arise from the specific activities of the business it follows therefore that the group  
does not enter into speculative financial transactions for which there is no underlying business 
requirement 
interest rate risk 
the group’s borrowings are at floating interest rates interest as a proportion of profits before tax  
is relatively small and changes in interest rates have a low impact on profits the group keeps this 
situation under constant review 
liquidity risk 
in september 2009 the group concluded a £700 million committed revolving multicurrency credit 
agreement which expires 31 october 2012 at the year end the group had unused facilities of 
£568 million  
foreign exchange risk 
the group’s trading including purchases of property plant and equipment is principally in 
sterling currency risk management relating to transactional business if significant is dealt  
with by the use of currency derivatives which are mainly foreign currency forward contracts 
credit risk trade receivables 
the majority of sales of the group to its customers are made on credit the group maintains  
credit insurance covering its larger trade debtors it is group policy that all customers are granted 
credit subject to credit verification procedures a rigorous system of credit control is applied and 
receivables are continually monitored bad debt provisions represented 46 2009 – 52 of 
gross trade debtors at the year end 
matt armitage 
finance director 
5 october 2010 
for further details  
see page 
91  corporate and social responsibility 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 30 
 relations with customers and suppliers 
the group deals with all of its customers and suppliers on an arm’s length commercial basis  
and applies ethical trading values that make it a disciplinary offence for any employee or director  
to offer gifts bribes or clearly excessive entertainment to customers in order to secure work 
employees and directors are not permitted to accept similar inducements from suppliers  
the group’s ‘whistleblowing’ policy provides an avenue for detecting any breaches of its  
ethical trading policy 
payment terms granted to customers are negotiated according to the amount at risk and the 
financial strength of the customer concerned work is either part billed as the work progresses  
or is invoiced when the work or service is completed  
where it is considered to be appropriate and available longterm supply agreements of between 
one and three years are sought for paper ink and other consumables in some cases the group’s 
interests are best served by purchasing goods and services on a spot purchase basis rather  
than pursuant to a longterm supply agreement reports on procurement matters are presented  
to the company’s board of directors on a monthly basis the group may only be committed to 
agreements in excess of twelve months’ duration or having an annual value in excess of £20 million 
with the authority of the board 
customers have the final decision on which substrate they wish their work to be printed and 
indeed many of the larger book and magazine publishers prefer to supply their own paper for  
use in producing their work 
the group’s policy for retaining customers is to deliver consistency and reliability of service  
and quality no customer is tied in to an agreement that cannot be terminated in the event of  
underperformance  
 employees 
the group is an equal opportunities employer and no job applicant or employee receives less 
favourable treatment on the grounds of age sex marital status race colour religion or belief  
it is the policy of the group that individuals with disabilities whether registered disabled or not 
should receive full and fair consideration for all job vacancies for which they are suitable applicants 
employees who become disabled during their working life will be retained in employment wherever 
possible and will be given help with any necessary rehabilitation and retraining the group is 
prepared to modify procedures or equipment wherever this is practicable so that full use can  
be made of an individual’s ability 
a ‘dignity at work’ policy operates to ensure so far as is practicable that the company and its 
subsidiaries provide a working environment free from harassment and bullying and in which 
employees do not behave in a manner which may be offensive to others  
employees of the company and its subsidiaries are regularly consulted by local managers and 
kept informed of matters affecting them and the overall development of the group 
details of the group s pension schemes are set out in note 26 to the financial statements all of  
the schemes are independently managed group companies contribute to a number of defined 
contribution schemes the principal one of which is the st ives defined contribution pension plan 
which is available for all eligible employees to join and which was established in 2002 on the 
closure of the group’s defined benefits scheme to new membership  
the investments of the defined benefits scheme are managed separately partly passively and 
partly actively under the direction of a trustee company ‘the trustee’ the fund managers of  
the actively managed portfolios are proscribed from holding any investment in or lending to  
the group the number of directors of the trustee is split equally between membernominated  
and companynominated trustee directors subject to casual vacancies which may arise from  
time to time  
those employees who were active members of the defined benefits scheme on 1 september 2009 
were each offered an invitation to participate in an alternative defined contribution group personal 
pension plan administered by the prudential   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 31
in respect of employment matters the group uses statistics of accidents resulting in three days’  
or more absence and total number of working days lost from all accidents as key performance 
indicators of the safety of its employees in 2010 the total number of accidents at the group’s sites 
which resulted in at least three days’ absence each was 20 2009 – 19 and the number of days’ 
work lost from all accidents at work was 596 days 2009 – 291 
 charitable and political donations 
the group’s cash donations to charities have been modest during the past two years reflecting  
the challenging economic climate the board’s policy is to give principally to local charities serving 
communities in which the group operates or to which employees or customers have a particular 
affinity the amount allocated to these will be kept under review no political donations were made 
in either year and the board has no intention to seek shareholders’ approval to permit the board  
to do so 
 shareholder relations 
the board attaches considerable importance to maintaining good relationships with shareholders 
effective twoway communication with institutional shareholders and analysts is established through 
regular presentations sometimes at production sites involving the chief executive and the finance 
director major shareholders are given the opportunity to meet with the nonexecutive directors  
the board receives an investor relations report at each of its regular meetings 
the annual general meeting is regarded as an opportunity to communicate directly with 
shareholders and the chairman of the audit and of the remuneration committees are each 
available at the annual general meeting to answer shareholders’ questions  
 st ives and the environment 
st ives is committed to continuous improvement in its environmental performance and accepts that 
its responsibilities with regard to environmental protection rank equally in importance with other  
key business objectives the board is responsible for the implementation of this policy and senior 
management throughout the business is responsible for the daytoday implementation of the  
policy at each operating unit with assistance and guidance from the group’s full time health  
safety and environmental adviser supported by six sitefocused qualified health safety and 
environmental managers 
an iso140012004 – certified environmental management system ‘ems’ has been established  
at each site with the exception of occam which was acquired on 1 june 2010 the suitability of 
occam’s management systems will be assessed during 20102011 with the objective of achieving 
iso140012004 certification the environmental data key performance indicators and commentary 
which follow excludes occam’s site 
these emss include procedures and systems aimed at managing and minimising the adverse 
environmental impacts of the following  
• energy consumptioncarbon emissions 
• waste management 
• water consumption 
• raw materials procurement and usage 
• materials recycling and 
• use of volatile organic compounds ‘vocs’ 
key performance indicators have long been established for managing energy consumption and 
carbon emissions waste sent to landfill and water consumption  corporate and social responsibility continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 32 
energy consumption and carbon emissions 
the total amount of energy electricity and gas used per square metre of substrate at all st ives 
sites fell by 6 compared with the 20082009 financial year since 20052006 this figure has  
also fallen by 6 the modest reduction in energy used per square metre over the last five years  
is largely attributable to reduced throughput and a subsequent reduction in utilisation of plant 
rationalisation of the business including consolidation of plant at fewer sites in the magazines  
and the direct response and commercial businesses has helped to reverse this resulting  
in an improvement in energy efficiency in 20092010 
the total carbon emissions arising from the combined energy electricity and gas used at all sites 
fell by 11 compared with 20082009 since 20052006 this figure has fallen by 17 
energy used kwhr per square metre
006
005
004
003
002
001
0
20052006 20062007 20072008 20082009 20092010
gas used electricity used total energy used
total emissions from energy ’000 tonnes co 2 
80
70
60
20
30
40
50
10
0
20052006 20062007 20072008 20082009 20092010
 
the group will be obligated under the carbon reduction commitment ‘crc’ and has submitted 
energy consumption data as part of the registration process in order to minimise the impact of  
the crc and also to provide evidence for the group’s improved carbon emissions over the past 
three years the company applied for and successfully achieved the carbon trust standard in  
april 2010  
a carbon trust carbon management programme undertaken in 20072008 resulted in the 
implementation of specific energy efficiency and energy management initiatives which have since 
contributed to a reduction in the group’s carbon footprint these ongoing initiatives include low 
energy lighting compressed air management systems variable speed drives and a feasibility 
study for the use of renewable energy at our sites there is no intention at present to offset carbon 
at a group level the group has however developed the capability to calculate the carbon 
footprint of individual print jobs so that the carbon can be offset if desired by its customers  
st ives westerham press has achieved carbon neutral status    
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 33
waste management 
recycling programmes are in place at all sites as appropriate for paper office and process 
waste cardboard wood pallets etc aluminium printing plates plastic packaging inks and 
solvents the quantity of waste sent to landfill fell by 105 compared with 20082009 and the 
quantity of waste generated per square metre of substrate fell by 5 compared with 20082009 
since 20052006 this figure has fallen by 53 
00
02
04
06
08
10
12
14
16
18
waste sent to landfill grammes per square metre
20052006 20062007 20072008 20082009 20092010
 
water usage 
the quantity of water used per square metre of substrate rose by 4 compared with the 20082009 
financial year since 20052006 this figure has risen by 16 in absolute terms however the total 
water consumption yearonyear fell by 25 and this figure has fallen by 3 since 20052006 
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
water consumption millilitres per square metre
20052006 20062007 20072008 20082009 20092010
  corporate and social responsibility continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 34 
raw materials procurement and usage 
so far as is reasonably practicable the group is committed to not utilising paper and board 
products that may incorporate wood from illegally harvested sources wood which has originated 
from forests in regions of serious social conflict genetically modified product or which may 
originate from uncertified high conservation value forests we endeavour to purchase paper and 
board from sources which utilise pulp derived from sustainable forests or recycled postconsumer 
waste all sites that use paper and board as their principal substrate eleven in total have achieved 
forest stewardship council ‘fsc’ chain of custody certification six of these sites have also 
attained programme for the endorsement of forest certification due to technology and quality 
limitations our lithographic printing sites normally use mineral oilbased inks however our sheet fed 
printing sites can print using vegetable oilbased inks at our customers’ request the front section 
of this annual report and accounts is printed on paper made from virgin wood fibre sourced from 
wellmanaged forests independently certified according to the rules of the fsc the rear section  
is printed on paper made from 100 deinked postconsumer waste and the inks used in printing 
the document as a whole are all vegetablebased 
use of vocs 
all inks that we use are free of voc emissions when stored and used at room temperature the oils 
whether mineral or vegetablebased used in heatset web offset inks become classified as voc 
emissions as the product passes through drying ovens which operate at high temperatures 
typically between 130 and 150 degrees centigrade the voc content of such inks is typically 
between 30 and 35 the voc emissions from the heatset web offset press ovens are abated 
using thermal oxidisers the group’s web offset printing sites are each compliant with their 
environmental permits which place limits on the permitted voc emissions the use of isopropyl 
alcohol ‘ipa’ has been eliminated from the web printing processes and from the majority of sheet 
fed presses used by the group  
approved by the board of directors and signed on its behalf by 
 
philip harris 
company secretary 
5 october 2010  directors’ report 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 35
the directors present their directors’ report and the audited financial statements for the fifty two 
weeks ended 30 july 2010 
 principal activities 
the principal activities of the group are set out on pages 22 to 25 of the business review  
the subsidiaries principally affecting the profits or net assets of the group in the year are listed in 
note 34 of the financial statements 
 business and operating review 
a detailed review of the performance of the group and its future prospects can be found in the 
business review and the financial review which should be read in conjunction with the chairman’s 
statement on pages 4 and 5 and the report on corporate and social responsibility on pages  
30 to 34 all of which is incorporated by reference into and forms part of this directors’ report 
certain sections of this annual report and accounts contain forwardlooking statements with 
respect to the strategy financial condition results operations and businesses of the group or 
markets in which the group operates these statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty 
because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that occur in the future and relate  
to events not all of which are within the group’s control although the group believes that the 
expectations reflected in such forwardlooking statements are reasonable there are a number of 
factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed  
or implied by these forwardlooking statements the group undertakes no obligation to update any 
forwardlooking statement 
 results and dividends 
the group profit for the year before taxation amounted to £8104000 2009 – loss for continuing 
and discontinued operations £16945000 the directors propose a final dividend of 175 pence  
for each ordinary share payable on 23 december 2010 to holders on the register as at 3 december 
2010 if approved the final dividend will make total dividends for the year of 350 pence per 
ordinary share 
£’000 
ordinary dividends – interim 1803
  – proposed final 1803
 share capital 
details of the company’s share capital are set out in note 28 to the financial statements  
the company’s share capital is comprised of one class of ordinary shares of 10 pence each  
the shares carry no rights to fixed income and each share carries the right to one vote at general 
meetings all shares are fully paid there are no specific restrictions on the size of a shareholding  
nor on the transfer of shares which are both covered by the provisions of the articles of association 
and prevailing legislation  directors’ report continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 36 
 major interests in shares 
as at 5 october 2010 the company had been notified in accordance with chapter 5 of the 
disclosure and transparency rules of the following voting rights as shareholders of the company 
 
number of 
voting rights  
silchester international investors limited and its subsidiaries 18591470 1795
aviva plc and its subsidiaries 14689627 1418
prudential plc and its subsidiaries 6628182 640
majedie asset management limited 6116675 591
schroder plc 6028004 582
state teachers’ retirement system of ohio 5213741 503
sanderson asset management limited 4058234 392
legal  general group plc and its subsidiaries 3979783 384
 directors 
the present membership of the board is set out on page 44 mike butterworth was appointed to the 
board with effect from 1 august 2010 as a nonexecutive director and david best will retire at the 
conclusion of the forthcoming annual general meeting as previously reported brian edwards left 
the board on 3 august 2009 
the directors’ interests in shares of the company are set out in the directors’ remuneration report 
on page 51  
 annual general meeting 
the notice of annual general meeting 2010 includes the following nonroutine business in addition 
to routine business 
allotment of share capital 
the board will seek to renew the shareholders’ authority to permit it to allot relevant securities within 
the limits laid down by the companies act 2006 and the december 2008 guidelines issued by the 
association of british insurers 
disapplication of statutory preemption rights 
the directors will also seek authority to allot shares in the capital of the company pursuant to the 
foregoing authority granted subject to certain stringent conditions  
authority for the company to purchase its own ordinary shares 
it will also be proposed to renew the shareholders’ approval for the directors to effect market 
purchases of the company’s ordinary shares on behalf of the company under the authority of the 
companies act 2006 and subject to certain limits and restrictions  
approval of new longterm incentive plan  
approval will also be sought to establish the st ives plc longterm incentive plan 2010 ‘the ltip’ 
the ltip is intended to replace the group’s discretionary executive share option scheme 2001 
and equity partnership plan 2001 
a detailed explanation of the proposed ltip and full explanations of the other nonroutine business 
referred to above are set out in the chairman’s letter which accompanies the notice of annual 
general meeting 
 employment policies 
the group is committed to providing equal opportunities with regard to employment free from 
discrimination and harassment and in a healthy and safe working environment details of how we 
deliver on these commitments are provided in the report on corporate and social responsibility    
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 37
 charitable and political donations 
the group made charitable donations of £1808 during the year 2009 – £1625 further details  
are given in the report on corporate and social responsibility no political donations were made  
in either year 
 creditor payments 
it is the group’s normal practice to agree terms of trading including payment terms with all 
suppliers provided suppliers perform in accordance with the agreed terms it is the group’s policy 
that payment should be made accordingly the average creditor days outstanding at 30 july 2010 
for the group and the company were 79 and 60 days respectively 2009 – 67 and 59 days  
 corporate governance 
 compliance statement 
the company is required to comply with the 2008 combined code on corporate governance  
‘the code’ or explain the reasons for noncompliance the code is the corporate governance 
code to which the company is subject and a copy can be found on the frc’s website 
wwwfrcorgukcorporatecombinedcodecfu 
with the exception of provision a41 of the code which refers to the formation of a nomination 
committee in the opinion of the board throughout the year ended 30 july 2010 the company  
has been in compliance with the code provisions contained in section 1 of the code the board 
confirmed during the year that the formation of a nomination committee remained inappropriate 
owing to the small size of the board and its preference to have all appointments or potential 
appointments fully discussed by all board members the board as a whole in effect acts as  
its nomination committee 
in applying the board’s policy on the nomination and recruitment of nonexecutive directors  
during the year the board sought external advice in identifying suitable candidates all directors 
participated in the selection process and they concluded that mike butterworth’s experience with 
cookson group plc which operates in a supply chain climate of demanding service levels his 
exposure to marketing and communications services and his insights as a serving ftse250 
finance director would be of great benefit 
the board has noted that the 2010 uk corporate governance code will apply to the group’s 
20102011 accounting period and therefore will be addressed and commented on in next year’s 
directors’ report  
the following section together with the directors’ remuneration report on pages 45 to 54 
describes how the board has applied the other principles and supporting principles contained in 
the code and where appropriate it has adopted elements of corporate governance good practice 
 auditors 
the audit committee has considered the effectiveness of the external audit undertaken by  
deloitte llp ‘deloitte’ in the light of their internal quality control procedures the promptness and 
accuracy of their work and other services obtained from them the committee also considered  
the robustness of deloitte’s safeguards and procedures to counter threats or perceived threats to 
their objectivity the application of their independence policies and their adherence to the ethical 
standards published by the auditing practices board in all these respects the committee was 
satisfied with deloitte’s objectivity and independence during the year the committee satisfied itself 
that the company’s policy on the provision by the group’s external auditors of nonaudit services 
had been appropriately applied  directors’ report continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 38 
last year the audit committee undertook a thorough review of the group’s external audit 
requirements comparing deloitte with three other firms based on a review of deloitte’s 
performance during 20092010 and after reviewing their independence the committee has 
recommended to the board that deloitte be reappointed the recommendation was accepted  
and therefore a resolution to reappoint them as the group’s auditors will be proposed at the 
forthcoming annual general meeting 
 going concern 
the group’s business activities together with the factors likely to affect its future development 
performance and position are set out in the chairman’s statement the chief executive’s review 
and report on corporate and social responsibility the financial position of the group its cash 
flows liquidity position and borrowing facilities are described in the financial review in addition 
note 27 to the financial statements includes the group’s objectives policies and processes for 
managing its interest rate risk foreign exchange risk credit risk liquidity risk and capital risk the 
foregoing statement review and report are to be found on pages 4 to 34 and note 27 to the 
financial statements on pages 91 to 94 
as highlighted in note 23 to the financial statements the group meets its daytoday working capital 
requirements through an overdraft facility of £15 million that is part of an overall funding facility of 
£70 million which falls due for renewal on 31 october 2012  
the current economic conditions create uncertainty particularly over the level of demand for the 
group’s products but the group’s forecasts and projections taking account of reasonably possible 
changes in trading performance show that the group should be able to operate within the level of 
its current facility and obtain further financing when the current facility expires  
after making enquiries the directors consider that the group has adequate resources and 
borrowing facilities to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future consequently 
they have continued to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements 
 directors’ disclosures to the auditors 
section 418 of the companies act 2006 requires each director to make an individual statement 
regarding the disclosure of information to the auditors the statement must confirm that as at the 
date of this report and as far as the director is aware there is no relevant audit information of which 
the company’s auditors are unaware and that the director has taken all the steps he ought to have 
taken in order to make himself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the 
company’s auditors are aware of that information a director is deemed to have taken all the steps 
necessary that he ought to have taken if he has made such enquiries of his fellow directors and  
of the company’s auditors for that purpose and taken such other steps if any for that purpose  
as are required by his duty as a director of the company to exercise due care skill and diligence 
all of the directors of the company as at 5 october 2010 have provided such a statement to the 
company the company’s auditors have been advised that confirmation has been given and 
should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of section 418 
 board of directors 
throughout the year the board’s membership included at least two independent nonexecutive 
directors in compliance with provision a32 of the code to the extent that it relates to smaller 
companies  
the board meets at regular intervals and is responsible to the shareholders for overall group 
strategy acquisitions and divestments major capital projects risk and financial matters  
all directors receive agendas and papers in advance of each meeting detailed minutes are 
recorded and actions followed up 
in addition to ad hoc meetings to deal with procedural and special matters the board met ten  
times during the year in the normal course of business the directors also held an additional board 
meeting to discuss strategic issues and board succession    
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 39
it is the opinion of the board that throughout the year each of the company’s nonexecutive 
directors was independent for corporate governance purposes and free from any business or 
other relationship which could materially interfere with the exercise of his judgement in reaching 
this opinion the board has carefully considered the balance between applying good practice  
and what it believes is in the shareholders’ best interests the nonexecutive directors each have  
a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities which are appropriately documented  
the nonexecutive directors met during the year with no group executive being present  
simon marquis fulfilled the role of senior independent director 
during the year the board carried out a review of matters reserved to it for decision these matters 
include the approval of annual budgets of individual trading subsidiaries major individual items of 
capital expenditure acquisitions and major procurement and supply contracts the management  
of risks that could potentially disrupt the ability of the group or any subsidiary to carry on business 
or which might damage the reputation of the group as a whole in the eyes of its shareholders or  
the general public and the management of matters which might result in a substantial unplanned 
financial risk to any subsidiary 
the board also decided to introduce regular meetings of each business’s managing director and 
the executive directors who will use the forum to drive the implementation of the group’s strategy 
by developing additional added value related services growing sales including cross selling 
opportunities developing our sales people and pursuing groupwide procurement initiatives 
a process led by the chairman for evaluating the board its committees and individual directors 
was undertaken during the year and the resultant recommendations were considered by the board 
and implemented  
the roles of chairman and chief executive are separate and distinct and an appropriate division  
of responsibilities between the two has been set out in writing and approved by the board 
all directors have full and timely access to all relevant information needed to enable them  
properly to discharge their responsibilities a procedure exists for directors to seek independent 
professional advice in the furtherance of their duties and to be reimbursed their reasonable legal 
fees and each has access to the advice and services of the company secretary all directors also 
have unrestricted access to other executives within the business to discuss any matter of concern 
to them senior executives within the group make regular presentations to the board on issues 
affecting their businesses future challenges and how they propose to address them 
on appointment each director receives an induction appropriate to their previous experience as  
a director and their knowledge of the industry 
the company’s articles of association require all directors to retire and offer themselves for  
reappointment by shareholders at least once every three years  
 board committees 
separate audit and remuneration committees of the board exist each with written terms of 
reference which were reviewed and revised during the year copies of these terms of reference can 
be obtained from the company secretary and may be viewed on the group’s corporate website 
wwwstivescouk 
the company secretary acts as secretary to these committees and ensures that committee 
members receive agendas and papers in advance of each meeting so that they are adequately 
prepared to transact the business in hand 
audit committee 
the audit committee carries out the functions required by dtr 713r the members of the 
committee throughout the year all of whom are independent nonexecutive directors were  
david best chairman simon marquis and richard stillwell david best is a chartered accountant 
and the board is of the opinion that throughout the year the audit committee had sufficient relevant 
financial experience mike butterworth also a chartered accountant joined the committee on his 
appointment to the board on 1 august 2010   directors’ report continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 40 
the committee members’ attendance at prearranged meetings of the committee is set out on 
page 41  
in addition to the prearranged meetings the committee held an adhoc meeting during the year 
principally to receive a briefing on new regulations standards and technical issues  
in the opinion of the board the committee met sufficiently frequently to properly discharge its 
responsibilities the committee’s role and responsibilities are set out in its terms of reference 
referred to above  
during the year the audit committee discharged its functions by 
• reviewing the findings of the external annual audit for 20082009 
• receiving a report at the half year end from deloitte on agreed procedures they had undertaken  
to review certain subsidiaries’ balance sheets and income statements and controls  
• reviewing the group’s interim management statements and half year report prior to release 
• considering reports from the group’s head of internal audit on work carried out during 20092010 
and agreeing an internal audit plan for 20102011 
• reviewing annual internal controls questionnaires completed by the group’s operating sites and 
the controls over key business risks 
• agreeing a revised process by which principal risks to the group would in future be managed 
• agreeing the nature and scope of the external annual audit for 20092010 
• reviewing and safeguarding the independence of deloitte and reviewing their performance 
• recommending deloitte’s reappointment as auditors  
• approving deloitte’s fees for their audit and nonaudit services and a process for observing an 
acceptable split between these categories of services 
• reviewing the group’s ‘whistleblowing’ policy and 
• commencing a formal evaluation of the committee’s effectiveness in delivering its terms  
of reference 
the finance director the chief executive and the head of internal audit were also invited to attend 
some of the meetings to ensure that committee members were fully informed and supported in 
carrying out their duties 
the members of the audit committee have been given specific approval by the board to meet with 
the group’s external auditors whenever they or the auditors consider it appropriate during the 
year the committee’s members had private meetings with representatives of deloitte and with the 
head of internal audit 
remuneration committee 
the members of the committee all of whom are independent nonexecutive directors and who 
served during the whole period are richard stillwell chairman david best and simon marquis 
mike butterworth was appointed to the committee on joining the board as a nonexecutive on 
1 august 2010  
the committee members’ attendance at prearranged meetings during the year is set out in the 
table on page 41 in addition to the prearranged meetings the committee held an adhoc meeting 
during the year to consider further the proposed ltip 
in the opinion of the board the committee met sufficiently frequently to properly discharge  
its duties    
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 41
during the year the committee 
• approved the payment of bonuses to certain directors for 20082009 
• approved the directors’ remuneration report for 20082009 
• approved the structure of the directors’ bonus scheme for 20092010 
• approved the provision of medical expenses cover to the group’s executive directors and others 
• approved the grant of share options to certain executives and the performance conditions 
attached to their vesting 
• appointed pricewaterhousecoopers llp ‘pwc’ as advisers to the committee 
• received presentations from hewitt new bridge street and pwc 
• approved the executive directors’ salaries for 20102011 
• approved the nature structure and design of the proposed ltip  
• reaffirmed the company’s policy that directors’ service contracts should make no specific 
provision for the payment of compensation in the event of termination payments and  
• completed a formal evaluation of its effectiveness in delivering its terms of reference 
 other board issues 
the company has made qualifying third party provisions for the benefit of its directors as defined 
by section 234 of the companies act 2006 which continue in force at the date of this report  
the company has entered into deeds of indemnity in favour of each of its directors on identical 
terms who served during the year under which the company has granted directors an indemnity 
to the extent permitted by law in respect of liabilities incurred by virtue of their office 
in accordance with the provisions of the companies act 2006 the company has procedures in 
place to deal with the situation where a director has a conflict of interest and regularly reviews 
conflict authorisation directors take no part in discussions on matters in which they are interested 
and they may be requested to leave a meeting at which a matter in which they are interested is to 
be discussed 
details of directors’ attendance at board and committee meetings based on their maximum 
possible attendance are as follows 
 board 
audit
committee 
remuneration
committee 
matt armitage 1010 ––
david best 1010 33 33
miles emley 1010 – –
simon marquis 1010 33 33
patrick martell 1010 – –
richard stillwell 1010 33 33
lloyd wigglesworth 1010 – –
 this table only shows details of attendance at meetings in the prearranged annual meeting calendar other adhoc meetings were held 
during the year  directors’ report continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 42 
 internal control and risk management 
this directors’ report covers the year under review and the period up to the date of signature 
the board is responsible for the group’s system of internal control including financial operational 
and compliance controls and risk management and for reviewing its effectiveness a workable and 
realistic system can only be designed to manage and mitigate rather than eliminate the risk of 
failure to achieve business objectives and therefore can only provide reasonable and not absolute 
assurance against material misstatement or loss  
the directors consider themselves collectively responsible for ensuring that risks arising from 
social environmental and ethical factors and the health and safety of the group’s employees are 
suitably managed and are referred to the board as necessary the board has identified and 
assessed those regulatory financial social environmental and ethical issues which may present  
a significant risk to the business 
the principal regulations affecting the group’s daytoday business and markets it serves have 
been identified by the board as employment law health  safety law environmental law 
planning law data protection legislation taxation law the law of defamation and competition 
law the board each year reviews the impact that these might have on the business and how  
to manage the risks to the business the internal audit team focused on the group’s internal 
controls reviewing the control environment and the testing of those controls controls testing  
of procurement payroll stock treasury and credit control cycles took place at selected sites 
the process by which the board exercises control is by monthly meetings with senior management 
within each of the group’s business segments these meetings are chaired by a parent board 
executive director and are also attended by the finance director regular items for discussion 
encompass any areas of significant risk to the businesses which are then raised at the next 
meeting of the parent board if appropriate 
annual internal control questionnaires are completed by all operating sites and any inconsistencies 
with the group’s established corporate governance and authority limits regimes which are identified 
are disclosed to the audit committee 
risk is reported on and monitored at the monthly meetings with senior management referred  
to above during the year the board initiated a comprehensive groundup review of its risk 
management process senior management within the group’s businesses attended training  
to facilitate the development of risk registers for their businesses with associated risk ratings 
mitigations and assignees as a consequence the group’s register of areas of significant risk  
has been refreshed 
approved by the board of directors and signed on its behalf by 
 
 
philip harris 
company secretary 
5 october 2010  statement of directors’ responsibilities 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 43
the directors are responsible for preparing the annual report directors’ remuneration report and 
the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations 
company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year  
under that law the directors are required to prepare the group financial statements in accordance 
with international financial reporting standards ‘ifrss’ as adopted by the european union  
and article 4 of the ias regulation and have elected to prepare the parent company financial 
statements in accordance with united kingdom generally accepted accounting practice  
united kingdom accounting standards and applicable law under company law the directors 
must not approve the accounts unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of  
the state of affairs of the company and of the profit or loss of the company for that period  
in preparing the group financial statements international accounting standard 1 requires  
that directors 
• properly select and apply accounting policies 
• present information including accounting policies in a manner that provides relevant reliable 
comparable and understandable information  
• provide additional disclosures when compliance with the specific requirements in ifrss are 
insufficient to enable users to understand the impact of particular transactions other events  
and conditions on the entity’s financial position and financial performance and 
• make an assessment of the company’s ability to continue as a going concern 
in preparing the parent company financial statements the directors are required to 
• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently 
• make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent 
• state whether applicable united kingdom accounting standards have been followed subject to 
any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements and 
• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume 
that the company will continue in business 
the directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show 
and explain the company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the 
financial position of the company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply 
with the companies act 2006 they are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the 
company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and 
other irregularities 
the directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial 
information included on the group’s website legislation in the united kingdom governing  
the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in  
other jurisdictions 
the directors confirm that to the best of their knowledge the financial statements prepared in 
accordance with the relevant financial reporting framework give a true and fair view of the assets 
liabilities financial position and profit or loss of the company and the undertakings included in  
the consolidation taken as a whole and the management report which is incorporated into the 
directors’ report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and 
the position of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole 
together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face 
approved by the board of directors and signed on its behalf by 
 
patrick martell 
chief executive 
5 october 2010 board of directors 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 44 
 executive directors 
matt armitage acma – aged 42 appointed to the board as finance director in september 2007 
mr armitage had previously worked for tequila london ltd – a belowtheline marketing services 
business owned by omnicom inc – for five years as their finance director previously he had held 
various financial management positions with companies operating in the telecommunications 
technology and fastmoving consumer goods industries including ten years with unilever plc 
patrick martell – aged 46 joined the group in 1980 was appointed a director of clays in 1994  
and became its managing director in 2000 appointed to the board in 2003 mr martell has since 
held the positions of managing director media products and managing director – uk operations 
in april 2009 mr martell was appointed the group’s chief executive 
lloyd wigglesworth – aged 51 was appointed a nonexecutive director on 1 december 2008 
becoming an executive director on 2 march 2009 on his appointment as group managing director 
– commercial products mr wigglesworth has previously been managing director of entertainment 
uk smiths news emap’s apex and choice publishing companies frontline and the dutch meat 
marketing board in the uk he has served on the boards of retailing marketing and property 
companies including wh smith plc woolworths plc crest nicholson plc and donaldsons llp 
his early career was in sales and marketing with mars inc 
 nonexecutive directors 
miles emley – aged 61 chairman previously with ubs philips  drew ltd and nm rothschild  
sons ltd mr emley joined the group in 1992 and was appointed executive chairman the following 
year becoming nonexecutive in the autumn of 2007 mr emley has held a nonexecutive 
directorship with marston’s plc since 1998 
david best fca – aged 60 appointed to the board in 2006 mr best was formerly group finance 
director of xansa plc and finance director of lucas management systems ltd and prior to these 
had held various senior positions in lockheed martin corporation in the usa where he qualified as 
a certified public accountant mr best holds a nonexecutive directorship with senior plc mr best 
is chairman of the audit committee and a member of the remuneration committee 
mike butterworth fca – aged 49 was appointed to the board on 1 august 2010 mike 
butterworth has for the past five years served as group finance director of cookson group plc  
a ftse250 company supplying products processes and services to the ceramics electronics  
and precious metals industries previously mr butterworth was group finance director of incepta 
group plc an international marketing and communications group from 2001 until 2005 prior to 
which he spent five years as group financial controller at bba group plc the international aviation 
and materials technology group mr butterworth serves on the audit and remuneration 
committees 
simon marquis – aged 57 senior nonexecutive director was appointed to the board in 2004 
mr marquis has over 30 years’ experience in the media and marketing industries being chairman 
of zenithoptimedia uk until 2006 and currently chairman of c squared holdings ltd evolutions 
television ltd national readership surveys ltd and a nonexecutive director of the coi he also 
serves as a nonexecutive director of packet vision ltd mr marquis serves on the audit and 
remuneration committees 
richard stillwell – aged 61 is a qualified barrister and holds nonexecutive directorships  
with fiberweb plc penna consulting plc scott bader company ltd chairman and tbi ltd  
until 2000 mr stillwell was executive vice president of ici plc where he had held various posts  
for 26 years mr stillwell was appointed to the board in 2006 is chairman of the remuneration 
committee and a member of the audit committee  directors’ remuneration report 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 45
as reported last year changes to board membership and the payrelated issues faced by many 
companies as a result of the economic downturn together with the expiry of the company’s 
existing senior executive sharebased incentive arrangements has prompted the committee  
to undertake a full review of the company’s short and longterm incentive arrangements  
and executive remuneration policy more generally the key objectives of this review were to 
ensure that st ives’ senior executive team are remunerated in a manner that generates returns  
for shareholders and reflects and supports the delivery of the company’s strategic priorities  
while taking due account of market and best practice  
this review has resulted in the committee proposing that a new ‘st ives plc longterm incentive 
plan 2010’ ‘the ltip’ be put to a shareholder vote at the forthcoming annual general meeting  
to replace the company’s existing sharebased incentive arrangements which have been in  
place since 2001 and which will therefore shortly expire the committee has designed the  
new ltip after taking advice from hewitt new bridge street and pricewaterhousecoopers llp  
full details of the new ltip are set out in the chairman’s letter accompanying the notice of annual 
general meeting 
with regard to the other elements of executive directors’ remuneration for the forthcoming year  
the committee has taken the following approach 
• with one exception explained more fully on page 47 base salaries remain frozen at the levels 
payable at the end of 20082009 
• any bonus awarded shall be capped at 125 per cent of basic salary  
• any bonus earned which is in excess of 50 per cent of basic salary shall normally be satisfied  
by the award of shares in the company which shall be held in trust for two years subject to a 
‘clawback’ that has been introduced in relation to any deferred bonus paid going forward 
• a share ownership guideline will be introduced under which executive directors are required  
to build up and retain a shareholding equal to 100 per cent of their basic salaries and 
• it is currently intended that 50 per cent of the net number of shares received under any bonus 
share deferral or ltip award must be retained until this guidance is met the committee may also 
take account of progress towards achieving this target when determining ltip awards andor the 
proportion of annual bonus that is subject to share deferral 
in addition it was decided during the year to extend medical expenses insurance cover to some  
of the directors all other elements of the remuneration package remain unchanged 
the company seeks to comply with the relevant conditions of the uk corporate governance  
code ‘the code’ relating to directors’ remuneration and the companies act 2006 the relevant 
legislation requires the auditors to report to the company’s members on certain disclosures 
contained in this report and to state whether in their opinion that part of the report has been 
properly prepared in accordance with the companies act 2006 the report has therefore been 
divided into separate sections containing audited and unaudited information 
in accordance with the companies act 2006 a resolution to approve this report will be proposed 
at the company’s annual general meeting on tuesday 30 november 2010 details of the 
resolution may be found in the notice accompanying this annual report the vote will be advisory 
but will be considered carefully by the members of the committee and the board in the formulation 
and approval of the company’s future remuneration policies  directors’ remuneration report continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 46 
 unaudited information 
 remuneration committee 
the remuneration committee is responsible for determining and agreeing with the board the 
overall remuneration strategy and individual remuneration packages and contractual arrangements 
for the executive directors senior management and the chairman of the board 
the membership the number of meetings held attendances and a description of the business the 
committee transacted are detailed in the corporate governance section on pages 40 and 41 
when undertaking its duties the committee ensures that due account is taken of pay and 
employment conditions throughout the group in this regard the committee ensures that it is kept 
abreast of matters such as i the general level of salary increases if any applied throughout the 
group ii the levels of bonuses paid and bonus opportunity offered to the workforce as a whole 
and iii any widespread changes that are proposed to groupwide employment conditions 
the full terms of reference for the committee are available on the company’s website  
wwwstivescouk 
 committee’s advisers 
throughout the year the committee and the company were advised by hewitt new bridge street 
‘hnbs’ since the year end hnbs was acquired by aon corporation other than in relation to 
advice on remuneration neither hnbs nor aon provided other services to the company  
the committee recognises that there may be occasions when there could be a conflict of  
interests when proposals are put by management on the recommendation of hnbs although the 
committee fully accepts the independence of hnbs it has appointed pricewaterhousecoopers llp 
‘pwc’ to act solely for the committee to review proposals where appropriate  
pwc provide pensions consulting services to the company in relation to the group’s defined 
benefits scheme the committee is satisfied that the provision of theses services to the company 
does not affect pwc’s ability to comment on proposals for remunerating its executive directors and 
certain members of senior management  
during the year under review the committee also where appropriate sought advice and 
assistance from the company secretary and members of the board including the chairman of the 
board the chief executive and the finance director in connection with carrying out its business 
none of these persons took part in decisions relating specifically to their own remuneration 
 remuneration policy 
the committee’s policy for the remuneration of the company’s executive directors is that it should 
be structured so as to attract and retain executives of a high calibre with the skills and experience 
necessary to develop the company successfully it aims to recommend strategies which support 
the creation of value for shareholders and reflect and support the delivery of the company’s 
strategic priorities while taking due account of market and best practice  
when determining levels of remuneration the committee periodically reviews the remuneration 
practices adopted by appropriate comparator companies both in the market generally and in the 
same business sector as the company   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 47
the committee believes that a significant portion of the remuneration package of senior executives 
should be linked to performance while ensuring that an appropriate balance is struck between 
fixed and variable pay and between shortterm and longterm variable pay the committee will 
regularly review the company’s remuneration policies to ensure that these polices neither 
encourage nor reward inappropriate operational risktaking that may be to the detriment of 
shareholders’ interests and that these remuneration policies are therefore compatible with the 
company’s general risk policies and systems 
the main components of the remuneration package for executive directors are 
basic salary 
in setting the basic salary for each executive director the committee takes into account the 
performance of each individual director any changes in position or responsibility and market 
competitiveness basic salary is the only element of pay that is pensionable 
following the most recent review taking into account the current economic climate and the group’s 
recent trading performance the committee decided that other than an increase of £8000 to 
matt armitage’s annual basic salary to bring it in line with that paid to lloyd wigglesworth for the 
second year running no basic salary increase would be awarded therefore the basic salary of 
each executive director for the forthcoming year is 
matt armitage £248000
patrick martell £350000
lloyd wigglesworth £248000
benefits in kind  
executive directors may receive benefits in kind which may include the provision of a car fuel  
and medical costs or the cash equivalent during the year the benefits of the company’s medical 
expenses insurance scheme were extended to the executive directors and others in the group  
pension arrangements 
matt armitage and lloyd wigglesworth each participated during the year in the group’s defined 
contribution scheme to which the company also contributes 
patrick martell participated in the group’s defined benefits scheme until it was discontinued on 
1 september 2008 and is entitled to a deferred pension under its rules brian edwards participated 
in the group’s personal pension plan to which the company also contributed until he ceased 
employment on 3 august 2009  
each scheme has a normal retirement age of 65  
annual bonus 
bonuses for 20092010  
at the beginning of the year the remuneration committee reviewed the key features of the annual 
bonus plan for the executive directors for 20092010 to align them more closely to the group’s aims 
for the year to improve the group’s cash performance and profit before tax this resulted in setting 
a collective target for the executive directors to improve the group’s cashadjusted normalised 
profit before tax ‘canpbt’ from a 20082009 base of £144 million the bonus earned from 
achieving improved canpbt would however be capped at 50 per cent of basic salary in the 
event that the profit before tax for 20092010 fell below £85 million compared to £73 million for 
20082009 all calculations of bonus were to be made after charging the cost of the relevant bonus 
against profit 
in the event that the total bonus earned exceeded 50 per cent of basic salary the excess is usually 
satisfied in the form of shares in the company to be held under the rules of the directors’ and 
senior executives’ deferred bonus scheme ‘the dbs’ after being purchased in the market or  
from the group’s employee benefit trust ‘the ebt’ in accordance with the rules of the dbs the 
shares shall inter alia vest immediately but be held on trust during a holding period for release  
to the director in november 2012 provided that he remains employed by the group at that time 
during the holding period the executive will be entitled to vote the shares ‘dbs shares’ and 
receive dividends on them but will be unable to sell transfer assign or charge any interest in  
the shares during the holding period without the consent of the committee   directors’ remuneration report continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 48 
bonuses earned by the executive directors in respect of 20092010 were 100 per cent of basic 
salary in recognition of the attainment of the challenging canpbt target set by the committee for 
the group for 20092010 to reflect the policy described above bonuses of 50 per cent of basic 
salary will be paid in cash to the executive directors at the end of october 2010 with the balance 
being satisfied in shares under the rules of the dbs with the exception that this year the committee 
has decided that it would be appropriate to pay the majority of lloyd wigglesworth’s bonus to him 
in cash in view of the company’s decision to change his work place to london and require him  
to relocate within reasonable commuting distance to the group’s head office mr wigglesworth  
will purchase £17000 worth of shares estimated to be approximately 20000 shares which will  
be held in trust under the rules of the dbs details of the 20092010 bonuses paid to executive 
directors are disclosed on page 51  
bonuses for 20102011 
the committee continues to take the view that cash generation and profit before tax remain the 
most appropriate drivers for annual bonuses for executive directors therefore for the forthcoming 
year directors may earn a bonus of up to 125 per cent of basic salary for exceeding a level of 
canpbt set by the committee provided a profit before tax hurdle is also achieved 
in the event that the total bonus earned exceeds 50 per cent of basic salary the excess will be 
satisfied in shares under the rules of the dbs part or all of the deferred portion of the bonus 
however can be forfeited if it becomes apparent during the holding period that the bonus was  
paid by reference to materially misstated results  
the committee will take account of the increased bonus opportunity when setting the bonus  
target with the delivery of an outstanding performance required to generate a full bonus payout 
this in addition to i the significant share deferral element of the bonus and ii the base salary 
freezes imposed makes the committee confident that this increase in bonus opportunity is entirely 
appropriate and demonstrates the importance the committee places on performancerelated pay 
 share incentive arrangements 
the company has operated two discretionary sharebased incentive plans since they were 
adopted by shareholders in 2001 these plans expire in 2011 and as reported above it is 
proposed that these plans be replaced by a single new longterm incentive plan for which 
shareholder approval is to be sought at the forthcoming annual general meeting 
a summary of the existing plans follows 
discretionary executive share option scheme 2001 ‘esos 2001’ 
executive directors and certain members of senior management have from time to time been 
granted share options under the esos 2001  
under the esos 2001 which has both hmrc ‘approved’ and ‘unapproved’ elements market  
value options to executive directors over shares worth up to 150 per cent of salary can be granted 
each year 400 per cent in exceptional circumstances options granted and outstanding under  
the esos 2001 are capable of exercise three years after grant subject to continued employment 
and the satisfaction of performance conditions further details of which are set out below on  
pages 52 and 53   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 49
equity partnership plan 2001 ‘epp 2001’ 
executive directors and certain members of senior management have in the past been invited  
to participate in the epp 2001 under which awards are made over shares subject to an initial 
investment in shares by participants  
no invitations have been made under the epp 2001 since november 2004 none of the directors 
has any outstanding entitlements to matching shares under the terms of this plan and it is not 
intended to make any further awards 
save as you earn scheme ‘saye scheme’ 
eligible employees including executive directors may from time to time be invited to participate in 
the company’s saye scheme which is operated in the standard way no award has been made 
under this scheme since 2002 and no options remain outstanding the scheme will expire in 2011 
dilution 
awards under the esos 2001 and epp 2001 which may be satisfied by new issue shares must not 
exceed 5 per cent of the company’s issued share capital in any rolling tenyear period and the 
total of all awards satisfied via new issue shares under all share option schemes both discretionary 
and allemployee must not exceed 10 per cent of the company’s issued share capital in any rolling  
tenyear period 
as at 30 july 2010 the headroom under the company’s 5 per cent and 10 per cent limits was 
2684356 and 7863513 shares respectively out of an issued share capital of 103583137 
shares  
 nonexecutive directors’ fees 
the company’s policy on setting nonexecutive directors’ remuneration which is decided by the 
board but with the nonexecutive directors not voting where it affects their personal position is to 
offer fees sufficient to attract and retain individuals of appropriate calibre such that they are able  
to apply an independent view based on their experience and skills these fees which have been 
unchanged since 2007 comprise a base responsibility fee of £30000 per annum plus additional 
fees of £8000 per annum for the post of senior independent director and £4000 per annum for 
chairing the audit and remuneration committees respectively the fee paid to the chairman is set 
separately by the committee 
nonexecutive directors may not participate in the group’s cash or sharebased incentive 
arrangements 
 service contracts and letters of appointment 
it is the company’s policy that executive directors should serve under rolling service contracts of 
twelve months’ duration or less and that there should be no special provisions for compensation  
in the event of termination neither in the normal course nor following a change in control of the 
company and that any compensation payments made should take account of the executive’s  
duty to mitigate his loss this policy was confirmed during the year and the contracts and letters  
of appointment disclosed below comply with this policy  
the policy on nonexecutive directors’ letters of appointment is that they shall be for an initial period 
of no more than three years but subject to a month’s notice at any time three months’ in the case 
of the chairman and retirement by rotation at the appropriate annual general meeting  directors’ remuneration report continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 50 
summaries of the directors’ contracts are disclosed below and brief biographical details are set  
out on page 44 directors’ contracts and letters of appointment are available for inspection in 
accordance with provision a44 of the code 
executive date of contract 
unexpired term 
notice period 
matt armitage 1 june 2007 12 months
patrick martell 1 august 2003 12 months
lloyd wigglesworth 11 february 2009 12 months
 
nonexecutive date of letter of appointment notice period 
david best 11 august 2006 1 month
mike butterworth 14 july 2010 1 month
miles emley 3 december 2007 3 months
simon marquis 5 december 2003 1 month
richard stillwell 11 august 2006 1 month
in accordance with the company’s articles of association miles emley and simon marquis each 
retire by rotation at the forthcoming annual general meeting mike butterworth was appointed to the 
board on 1 august 2010 and holds office until the next annual general meeting the board having 
supported their reelections and being eligible they offer themselves for reelection 
in applying the board’s policy on the nomination and recruitment of nonexecutive directors  
during the year the board sought external advice in identifying suitable candidates all directors 
participated in the selection process and they concluded that mike butterworth’s experience at 
cookson group plc which operates in a supply chain climate of demanding service levels his 
exposure to marketing and communications services and his insights as a serving ftse250 
finance director would be of great benefit 
details of remuneration of executive directors ceasing to serve in the year 
brian edwards ceased to be a director on 3 august 2009 and the remuneration paid as a result  
of the cessation of his employment was disclosed in last year’s directors’ remuneration report 
 external appointments 
executive directors may accept appointments outside the company with the permission of the 
board the extent to which any fees are retained by the individual or are remitted to the company 
will be considered on a casebycase basis no executive director held an external appointment 
during the year 
 audited information 
 directors’ remuneration 
the total amounts for directors’ remuneration were as follows 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
emoluments 20188 19869
termination payments – 2731
gains on exercise of share options – –
money purchase pension contributions 181 4637
 20369 27237
patrick martell is the highest paid director of the company   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 51
individual directors’ emoluments from the group were as follows 
total emoluments 
 
basic 
salaryfee
note 1
£’000 
bonus
£’000 
dbs
shares
£’000 
other pay 
note 2 
£’000 
benefits  
in kind 
note 3 
£’000 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
executive   
matt armitage 2605 1240 1240 – 10 5095 3154
wayne angstrom –––– – – 1293
brian edwards 16 – – – – 16 7973
patrick martell 3500 1750 1750 – 253 7253 3461
simon ward –––– – – 2579
lloyd wigglesworth  2608 2480 – 350 12 5450 1679
nonexecutive   
david best 340 – – – – 340 340
miles emley 1300 – – – 14 1314 1300
simon marquis 380 – – – – 380 353
richard stillwell 340 – – – – 340 340
david wilbraham –––– – – 128
 1108954702990350 289 20188 22600
in respect of dbs shares matt armitage and patrick martell will acquire shares in the company 
from their net pay that is pay after deduction of income tax and employees’ national insurance 
contributions of £60760 and £85750 gross pay of £124000 and £175000 respectively which 
will be held under the terms of the dbs a description of dbs is given on page 47 
notes 
1 the basic salaries of matt armitage and lloyd wigglesworth include additional payments of £12533 and £12815 respectively  
2009 – £15425 and £5340 respectively in lieu of the provision of a company car and fuel benefit 
2 the ‘other pay’ paid to lloyd wigglesworth relates to costs he incurred in relocating to within commuting distance of london following  
his appointment as an executive director with effect from march 2009 
3 benefits in kind constitute medical expenses insurance cover for matt armitage patrick martell lloyd wigglesworth and miles emley  
for the period from 1 november 2009 to the end of the year and the provision of a company car and fuel benefit to patrick martell  
4 there were no termination payments made to any director during the year 
 directors’ interests in the share capital of the company 
interests of directors in 10 pence ordinary shares fully paid at 30 july 2010 or date of 
appointment if later were as follows 
 
30 july 
2010 
31 july 
2009 
executive 
matt armitage – –
patrick martell 14789 14789
lloyd wigglesworth 10000 –
nonexecutive 
david best 3000 3000
mike butterworth appointed 1 august 2010 – –
miles emley 109884 105884
simon marquis 3000 3000
richard stillwell 13000 13000
all the above share interests were held beneficially and there has been no change to these nor to 
the directors’ share options between the year end and 5 october 2010  directors’ remuneration report continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 52 
 directors’ share options 
details of the share options held by directors are shown below all options were granted for nil 
consideration under the esos 2001 
  number of options    
 date of grant 
31 july 
2009 
exercised 
during 
year 
lapsed 
during 
year 
granted 
during 
year 
30 july 
2010 
exercise  
price  
pence 
date from 
which 
exercisable 
expiry 
date 
matt armitage 28 apr 2008 110800 – – – 110800 23675 28 apr 2011 27 apr 2018
 3 nov 2009 –––544000 544000  6617 3 nov 2012 2 nov 2019
  110800––544000 654800  
patrick martell 30 apr 2007 94700 – 94700 – – 31675 30 apr 2010 29 apr 2017
 28 apr 2008 152000 – – – 152000 23675 28 apr 2011 27 apr 2018
 3 nov 2009 –––544000 544000 6617 3 nov 2012 2 nov 2019
  246700–94700544000 696000  
lloyd wigglesworth 3 nov 2009 – – – 544000 544000 6617 3 nov 2012 2 nov 2019
for options granted on 30 april 2007 and 28 april 2008 the following threeyear adjusted earnings 
per share ‘eps’ based performance conditions have been applied 
eps growth in excess of rpi average per annum compounded 
 of award 
vesting 
stepped 
scale 
3 25
4 25
5 25
6 25
the eps of the company shall unless the committee determines otherwise exclude middle 
column items and charges for amortisation of goodwill and the committee may make such 
adjustments to the method of calculating the company’s eps or any other feature of the terms  
of award of options as it considers appropriate to take account of a any increase or variation  
of the share capital of the company b any change to accounting standards practices affecting 
the calculation of eps and c any other factors considered by the committee to be relevant   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 53
the committee made a final grant of options to the executive directors under the esos 2001 on 
3 november 2009 the vesting of which are conditional on the achievement in 20112012 of a profit 
before tax of at least £15 million as follows  
profit before tax 
 of award vesting
stepped scale 
above £15m and below £17m 20
above £17m and below £19m 20
above £19m and below £21m  30
£21m or more 30
unless the committee determines otherwise for the purposes of calculating the company’s profit 
before tax there shall be excluded middle column items and charges for amortisation of goodwill 
the committee may make such adjustments to the method of calculating the company’s profit 
before tax as it considers appropriate to take account of a any increase or variation of the share 
capital of the company b any change to accounting standards practices affecting the calculation 
of profit before tax or c any other factors considered by the committee to be relevant 
in the view of the committee at the time of grant these conditions were no less demanding than 
those used hitherto the achievement of which will be independently verified and which the 
committee believed would if achieved drive the creation of substantial returns to shareholders 
no options granted under the esos 2001 have vested to date and no option outstanding is subject 
to retesting 
the market price of st ives plc ordinary shares of 10 pence each at 30 july 2010 was 8425 pence 
and the range during the financial year was 465 pence to 85 pence  
 pension 
the directors’ entitlements from the group’s defined benefits pension scheme are disclosed below  
transfer value of accrued 
pension note 1 
accumulated total accrued 
pension note 3 
 
at 30 july 
2010
£’000 
at 31 july 
2009
£’000 
increase in 
transfer value 
during the 
year less 
directors’ 
contributions
note 1
£’000 
increase  
in accrued 
pension 
during the 
year 
note 2 
£’000 pa 
transfer value 
of increase  
in accrued 
pension less 
directors’ 
contributions 
note 1 
£’000 
at 30 july 
2010
£’000 pa 
at 31 july 
2009
£’000 pa 
patrick martell 9133 8616 517 05 55 779 774
notes 
1 the transfer values have been calculated on the basis agreed by the trustees of the st ives pension scheme the transfer values disclosed 
above do not represent a sum paid or payable to the individual director instead they represent a potential liability of the defined benefits 
pension scheme  
2 the increase in the accrued pension during the year shown above excludes any increase arising from the statutory revaluation in deferment 
up to normal retirement age  
3 the accumulated total accrued pension entitlements shown are annual amounts at retirement calculated on service completed to 31 august 
2008 the date the scheme ceased the accrual of further benefits total service to 31 august 2008 was 23 years 5 months including 5 years  
2 months’ service purchased from transfersin to the company’s defined benefits pension scheme  directors’ remuneration report continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 54 
pension contributions made by the company to defined contribution schemes in respect of 
executive directors are shown below 
 
 2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
matt armitage 97 94
brian edwards resigned 3 august 2009 03 4377
simon ward resigned 31 march 2009 – 166
lloyd wigglesworth appointed 1 december 2008 81 –
 181 4637
 performance graph 
the graph below shows the company’s performance measured by total shareholder return 
compared with the performance of the ftse small cap index over the past five years the ftse 
small cap has been chosen as a comparator as it represents a broad equity index of which the 
company has been a constituent member for the majority of the relevant five year period 
total shareholder return index
st ives plc vs ftse small cap
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
july 2005 july 2006 july 2007
st ives
july 2008 july 2009 july 2010
ftse small cap
 
approved by the board and signed on its behalf by 
 
 
richard stillwell 
chairman of the remuneration committee 
5 october 2010 independent auditors’ report to the members of st ives plc 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 55
we have audited the group financial statements of st ives plc for the 52 weeks ended 30 july  
2010 which comprise the consolidated income statement the consolidated balance sheet  
the consolidated cash flow statement the consolidated statement of changes in equity the 
consolidated statement of comprehensive income and the related notes 1 to 34 the financial 
reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and international 
financial reporting standards ‘ifrss’ as adopted by the european union 
this report is made solely to the company’s members as a body in accordance with chapter 3  
of part 16 of the companies act 2006 our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state 
to the company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors’ report 
and for no other purpose to the fullest extent permitted by law we do not accept or assume 
responsibility to anyone other than the company and the company’s members as a body for our 
audit work for this report or for the opinions we have formed 
 respective responsibilities of directors and auditors 
as explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities statement the directors are responsible  
for the preparation of the group financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true 
and fair view our responsibility is to audit the group financial statements in accordance with 
applicable law and international standards on auditing uk and ireland those standards require 
us to comply with the auditing practices board’s ‘apb’s’ ethical standards for auditors 
 scope of the audit of the financial statements 
an audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements 
sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material 
misstatement whether caused by fraud or error this includes an assessment of whether the 
accounting policies are appropriate to the group’s circumstances and have been consistently 
applied and adequately disclosed the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made 
by the directors and the overall presentation of the financial statements 
 opinion on financial statements 
in our opinion the group financial statements 
• give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s affairs as at 30 july 2010 and of its profit for 
the year then ended 
• have been properly prepared in accordance with ifrss as adopted by the european union and 
• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the companies act 2006 and  
article 4 of the ias regulation 
 separate opinion in relation to ifrss as issued by the iasb 
as explained in note 1 to the group financial statements the group in addition to complying with  
its legal obligation to apply ifrss as adopted by the european union has also applied ifrss as 
issued by the international accounting standards board ‘iasb’ 
in our opinion the group financial statements comply with ifrss as issued by the iasb 
 opinion on other matter prescribed by the companies act 2006 
in our opinion the information given in the directors’ report for the financial year for which the 
financial statements are prepared is consistent with the group financial statements  independent auditors’ report to the members of st ives plc continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 56 
 matters on which we are required to report by exception 
we have nothing to report in respect of the following 
under the companies act 2006 we are required to report to you if in our opinion 
• certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made or 
• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit 
under the listing rules we are required to review 
• the directors’ statement contained within the directors’ report in relation to going concern and 
• the part of the corporate governance statement relating to the company’s compliance with the 
nine provisions of the june 2008 combined code specified for our review 
 other matter 
we have reported separately on the parent company financial statements of st ives plc for the 
52 weeks ended 30 july 2010 and on the information in the directors’ remuneration report that  
is described as having been audited  
 
peter o’donoghue senior statutory auditor 
for and on behalf of deloitte llp 
chartered accountants and statutory auditors  
london united kingdom 
5 october 2010 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
note 
an audit does not provide assurance on the maintenance and integrity of the website including 
controls used to achieve this and in particular on whether any changes may have occurred to  
the financial statements since first published  these matters are the responsibility of the directors  
but no control procedures can provide absolute assurance in this area legislation in the united 
kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements differs from 
legislation in other jurisdictions   consolidated income statement 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 57
  52 weeks to 30 july 2010 52 weeks to 31 july 2009 
 
note 
underlying
£’000
non
underlying 
note 7
£’000
total  
£’000 
underlying 
£’000 
non
underlying 
note 7
£’000 
total
£’000 
   
revenue 3 4 361919 337 362256 386782 –386782
cost of sales 278872 4406 283278 302551 8872311423
   
gross profit  83047 4069 78978 84231 8872 75359
selling costs  23882 217 24099 27315 1295 28610
administrative expenses  43486 4064 47550 46897 3903 50800
other operating incomeexpense  334 2040 2374 131 462 331
   
profitloss from operations 4 5 16013 6310 9703 10150 14532 4382
investment income 8 13267 – 13267 12857 –12857
finance costs 9 14866 – 14866 15716 –15716
   
profitloss before tax  14414 6310 8104 7291 14532 7241
income tax chargecredit 10 4472 4106 366 2198 3114 916
   
profitloss for the period from 
continuing operations  9942 2204 7738 5093 11418 6325
profitloss from 
discontinued operations 12 –– – 476 8709 8233
   
net profitloss for the period  9942 2204 7738 5569 20127 14558
   
basic and diluted earnings 
per share p          
from continuing operations 14 965 214 751 494 1108 614
from continuing and 
discontinued operations 14 965 214 751 540 1953 1413
  nonunderlying items comprise restructuring charges provision releases operation results of noncontinuing operations amortisation of 
acquired intangibles and oneoff items 
  consolidated statement of comprehensive income 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 58 
 
 
52 weeks to 
30 july 2010
£’000
52 weeks to 
31 july 2009
£’000 
profitloss for the period 7738 14558
exchange gains on translating foreign operations – 275
transfer to profit and loss from equity of exchange differences on disposal  
of foreign operations and repayment of foreign hedging loan  – 235
actuarial gainslosses on defined benefits pension schemes 3835 5511
transfers of gains on cash flow hedges to hedged items 209 –
gains on cash flow hedges taken directly to equity 59 209
tax chargecredit on items taken directly to equity 1367 1491
other comprehensive incomeexpense for the period 2318 3771
total comprehensive incomeexpense for the period 10056 18329 consolidated statement of changes in equity 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 59
 
 
share 
capital
£’000 
share 
premium
£’000 
esop 
reserve
£’000 
capital 
redemption 
reserve
£’000 
share 
option 
reserve
£’000 
hedging 
and 
translation 
reserve 
£’000 
other 
reserves 
£’000 
retained 
earnings 
£’000
total
£’000
balance at  
1 august 2008 10355 46689 1913 1238 149 40 46123 98392154870
loss for the period ––– ––– – 14558 14558
other comprehensive 
incomeloss for  
the period – – – – – 197 197 3968 3771
comprehensive 
incomeloss for  
the period – – – – – 197 197 18526 18329
dividends –––––– – 14324 14324
release of share 
based payments – – – – 149 – 149 – 149
balance at  
31 july 2009 10355 46689 1913 1238 – 157 46171 65542122068
profit for the period ––– ––– – 7738 7738
other comprehensive 
lossincome for  
the period – – – – – 114 114 2432 2318
comprehensive 
lossincome for  
the period – – – – – 114 114 10170 10056
dividends –––––– – 2318 2318
issue of share capital 3 17 – – – – 17 – 20
recognition of share
based payments ––– – 60– 60 – 60
balance at  
30 july 2010 10358 46706 1913 1238 60 43 46134 73394 129886 consolidated balance sheet 
 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 60 
 
 note 
30 july
 2010
£’000 
31 july
 2009
£’000 
assets  
noncurrent assets  
property plant and equipment 15 107438 122178
goodwill 16 54383 46274
other intangible assets  16 4683 1215
financial assets 17 3495 3109
deferred tax assets 18 1355 3484
other noncurrent assets 20 202 1415
  171556 177675
current assets  
inventories 19 10112 10642
trade and other receivables 20 68148 71685
current tax receivable  568 1666
derivative financial instruments  20 59 209
cash and cash equivalents 20 10515 14016
assets held for sale 21 2140 1282
  91542 99500
total assets  263098 277175
liabilities  
current liabilities  
trade and other payables 22 79920 74429
loans and bank overdrafts 23 – 33016
deferred income 24 934 851
provisions 25 3752 5421
  84606 113717
noncurrent liabilities  
loans 23 13193 –
retirement benefits obligations 26 32887 38283
deferred income 24 593 983
provisions 25 666 582
deferred tax liability 18 1267 1542
  48606 41390
total liabilities  133212 155107
net assets  129886 122068
equity  
capital and reserves  
share capital 28 10358 10355
other reserves  46134 46171
retained earnings  73394 65542
total equity  129886 122068
these financial statements were approved by the board of directors on 5 october 2010  
and signed on its behalf by 
 
 
patrick martell  matt armitage 
chief executive  finance director  consolidated cash flow statement 
 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 61
 
 note 
52 weeks to
 30 july 2010
£’000
52 weeks to
 31 july 2009
£’000 
operating activities  
cash generated from operations 29 37222 33807
interest paid  1160 1779
income taxes receivedpaid  744 2680
net cash generated from operating activities  36806 29348
  
investing activities  
purchase of property plant and equipment  11245 19197
purchase of other intangibles  804 613
proceeds on disposal of property plant and equipment  4584 4965
disposal proceeds of subsidiary net of cash disposed  – 20608
acquisition of subsidiary net of cash acquired 11 10517 –
net cash used ingenerated from investing activities  17982 5763
  
financing activities  
capital element of finance lease rentals  – 230
dividends paid 13 2318 14324
decrease in bank loans  20000 12961
net cash used in financing activities  22318 27515
net decreaseincrease in cash and cash equivalents  3494 7596
cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period  14016 5635
effect of foreign exchange rate changes  7 785
cash and cash equivalents at end of period 29 10515 14016 notes to the consolidated financial statements 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 62 
1 general information 
st ives plc is a company incorporated in england and wales under the companies act 2006  
the address of the registered office is st ives house lavington street london se1 0nx  
the nature of the group’s operations and its principal activities are set out in the business  
review pages 6 to 25 
these consolidated financial statements ‘the financial statements’ are presented in sterling 
because this is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the group operates 
foreign operations are included in accordance with the significant accounting policies set out in 
note 2 
in the period the group adopted ifrs 8 – operating segments ias 1 – presentation of financial 
statements revised 2007 and amendments to ias 23 – borrowing costs  
the adoption of ias 1 – presentation of financial statements revised 2007 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 in equity  
ifrs 8 – operating segments 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 those segments and to assess their performance and  
has not resulted in a change to the way the group identifies or presents operating segments 
ias 23 – borrowing costs 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 period  
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 ‘nonunderlying items’  
if they are significant in size and do not occur in the normal course of business or if they comprise 
operating results of a site after a formal decision on its closure has been taken where that site  
does not meet the definition of a discontinued operation under ifrs 5 – assets held for sale and 
discontinued operations in which case the site and its activities are referred to as a ‘noncontinuing 
operation’ or if they comprise amortisation charges on acquired intangible assets the adoption  
of this policy resulted in the operating results of the andover site arising after 31 august 2009  
and of the hayes site arising after 31 march 2010 classified from those dates as ‘noncontinuing 
operations’ as well as the amortisation of intangibles acquired as part of the occam acquisition 
being presented as middle column items  
four interpretations issued by the international financial reporting interpretations committee are 
effective for the current period  
ifric 15 agreements for the construction of real estate 
ifrc 16 hedges of a net investment in a foreign operation 
ifrc 17 distribution of noncash assets to owners 
ifrc 18 transfers of assets from customers 
the adoption of these interpretations has not led to any changes in the group’s accounting 
policies  
at the date of authorisation of these financial statements the following standards and 
interpretations which have not been applied in these financial statements were in issue but not  
yet effective 
ifrs 9 financial instruments the standard is mandatory for accounting periods commencing 
after 1 january 2012 
ifrc 11 ifrs 2 – group and treasury share transactions the standard is mandatory for 
accounting periods commencing on or after 1 september 2009 
ifrc 19 extinguishing financial liabilities with equity the standard is mandatory for accounting 
periods commencing after 1 july 2010 
the directors expect that the adoption of these standards and the interpretations in future periods 
will have no material impact on the group’s results or financial position   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 63
2 significant accounting policies 
the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with international financial reporting 
standards ‘ifrs’ 
the financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis except for the revaluation 
of financial instruments the significant accounting policies adopted are set out below  
in the process of applying the group’s accounting policies management has made judgements  
as to the policies that have the most significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial 
statements the accounting estimates and assumptions that management considers to be its 
critical accounting estimations are detailed and explained in the financial review 
a basis of consolidation 
the consolidated financial statements incorporate the financial statements of the company and 
entities controlled by the company its subsidiary undertakings for each period control is 
achieved where the company has the power to govern the financial and operating policies of  
an investee entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities 
the results of subsidiaries acquired or disposed of during the period are included in the 
consolidated income statement from the effective date of acquisition or up to the effective date  
of disposal as appropriate  
the consolidated income statement does not consolidate line by line the trading of operations 
classified as discontinued operations these are shown on a single line under ‘profitloss from 
discontinued operations’ in the consolidated income statement  
certain balance sheet comparatives have been restated to reflect changes in presentation  
where necessary adjustments are made to the results of subsidiaries to bring their accounting 
policies into line with those of the group all intragroup transactions balances income and 
expenses are eliminated on consolidation 
b columnar classification in the income statement 
income statement items are presented in the middle column under the heading ‘nonunderlying 
items’ if they are significant in size and do not occur in the normal course of business or if they 
comprise the operating results of a site arising after a formal decision on its closure has been taken 
where that site does not meet the definition of a discontinued operation under ifrs 5 – assets held 
for sale and discontinued operations in which case the site and its activities are referred to as a 
‘noncontinuing operation’ or if they comprise amortisation charges on acquired intangible assets 
c revenue recognition 
revenue 
revenue is measured at the fair value of consideration received or receivable and comprises 
amounts receivable for goods and services net of trade discounts upfront payments vat and 
other salesrelated taxes revenue is recognised in the income statement when the significant risks 
and rewards of ownership are transferred to the customer normally on shipment of the product 
income from advance billings is deferred and realised to revenue when conditions for its 
recognition have been fulfilled 
interest income 
interest income is accrued on a time basis by reference to the principal outstanding and at the 
effective interest rate applicable  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 64 
2 significant accounting policies continued 
d intangible assets 
goodwill 
goodwill arising on the acquisition of a subsidiary represents the excess of the cost of the 
acquisition over the net fair value of the identifiable assets liabilities and contingent liabilities of the 
subsidiary at the date of the acquisition fair value is finalised within 12 months of the date of the 
acquisition goodwill is not amortised but reviewed for impairment annually in accordance with the 
impairment of goodwill policy set out below 
other intangible assets – computer software 
computer software that is not integral to an item of property plant or equipment is classified as an 
intangible asset and is held on the balance sheet at cost these assets are amortised over their 
estimated useful lives which is generally two to five years 
other intangible assets – customer relationships  
customer relationships identified as separable intangible assets in the context of business 
combinations are capitalised at their fair value at the date of acquisition they are amortised  
over their estimated useful lives which is eight years  
e property plant and equipment 
property plant and equipment held for use in the production or supply of goods or for 
administration purposes is stated in the balance sheet at deemed cost less any accumulated 
depreciation and impairment losses 
costs are recognised as an asset only when it is probable that future economic benefits  
associated with the item will flow to the group and the cost of the item can be measured reliably  
all repairs and maintenance are charged to the income statement during the period in which they 
are incurred  
assets in the course of construction are carried at cost less any recognised impairment loss  
cost includes professional fees depreciation of these assets commences when the assets are 
ready for their intended use 
freehold land is not depreciated 
depreciation is charged other than on freehold land and assets under the course of construction 
so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets over their estimated useful lives using the straight
line method on the following basis 
freehold buildings 2 – 4
long leases period of lease
plant and machinery 10 – 33
1

3

fixture fittings and equipment 10 – 33
1

3

motor vehicles 20 – 25
the gain or loss arising on the disposal or retirement of an asset is determined as the difference 
between the sale proceeds and the carrying amount of the asset and is recognised in the  
income statement 
f impairment of property plant and intangible assets excluding goodwill 
at each balance sheet date the group reviews the carrying amounts of its property plant and 
equipment and intangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets 
have suffered any impairment loss 
if any such indication exists the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine 
the extent of the impairment loss if any where the asset does not generate cash flows that  
are independent from other assets the group estimates the recoverable amount of the cash
generating unit to which the assets belongs 
the recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less costs to sell and valueinuse in assessing 
valueinuse the estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present value using a pretax 
discount rate that reflects current market assessment of the time value of money and the risks 
specific to the asset for which the estimates of future cash flows have not been adjusted    
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 65
if the recoverable amount of an asset or cashgenerating unit is estimated to be less than  
its carrying amount the carrying amount of the asset cashgenerating unit is reduced to its 
recoverable amount an impairment loss is recognised immediately as an expense in the  
income statement  
where an impairment loss subsequently reverses the carrying amount of the asset cash
generating unit is increased to the revised estimate of its recoverable amount but so that the 
increased carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined 
had no impairment loss been recognised for the asset cashgenerating unit in prior years  
a reversal of an impairment loss is recognised as income immediately in the income statement 
g impairment of goodwill 
goodwill arising on acquisition is allocated to the group of cashgenerating units that are expected 
to benefit from the synergies of the combination a cashgenerating unit represents the lowest  
level at which goodwill is monitored by the group’s board of directors for internal management 
purposes the recoverable amount of the group of cashgenerating units to which goodwill has 
been allocated is tested for impairment annually on a consistent date during each financial year  
or more frequently when such events or changes in circumstances indicate that it may be impaired 
any impairment is recognised immediately in the income statement impairments of goodwill are 
not subsequently reversed 
h assets held for sale 
assets held for sale are measured at the lower of carrying amount and fair value less costs to sell 
noncurrent assets are classified as held for sale if their carrying amount will be recovered through 
a sale transaction rather than through continuing use this condition is regarded as met only when 
the sale is highly probable and the asset is available for immediate sale in its present condition 
management must be committed to the sale which should be expected to qualify for recognition  
as a completed sale within one year from the date of classification 
i inventories 
inventories are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value 
cost comprises direct materials and where applicable direct labour costs and those  
production overheads that have been incurred in bringing the inventories to their present location 
and condition cost is valued on a first in first out ‘fifo’ basis net realisable value is the 
estimated selling price less the estimated costs of completion and costs to be incurred in selling 
and distribution 
j tax 
the tax expense in the income statement comprises tax currently payable and deferred tax 
the tax currently payable is based on the taxable profit for the year taxable profit differs from net 
profit as reported in the income statement because it excludes items of income and expense that 
are taxable or deductible in other years and it further excludes items that are never taxable or 
deductible the group’s liability for current tax is calculated using tax rates that have been enacted 
or substantively enacted at the balance sheet date 
deferred tax is recognised on differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities  
in the accounts and the corresponding tax bases used in the computation of taxable profit and  
is accounted for using the balance sheet liability method deferred tax liabilities are generally 
recognised for all taxable temporary differences and deferred tax assets are recognised to the 
extent that it is probable that taxable profits will be available against which deductible temporary 
differences can be utilised such assets and liabilities are not recognised if the temporary 
differences arise on goodwill or from the initial recognition other than business combinations of 
other assets or liabilities in a transaction that affects neither the tax profit nor the accounting profit  
deferred tax liabilities are recognised for taxable temporary differences arising on investments in 
subsidiaries except where the group is able to control the reversal of the temporary difference  
and it is probable that the temporary difference will not reverse in the foreseeable future  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 66 
2 significant accounting policies continued 
j tax continued 
the carrying amount of deferred tax assets is reviewed at each balance sheet date and is reduced 
to the extent that it is no longer probable that sufficient taxable profits will be available to allow all or 
part of the asset to be recovered  
deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability 
is settled or the asset is realised deferred tax is charged or credited to the income statement 
except where it relates to items charged or credited directly to equity in which case the deferred 
tax is also dealt with in equity  
deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when there is a legally enforceable right to offset 
current assets against current liabilities and when they relate to income taxes levied by the same 
taxation authority and the group intends to settle its current tax assets and liabilities on a net basis  
k government grants 
government grants relating to property plant and equipment are treated as deferred income and 
released to the income statement over a period to match the expected useful lives of the assets to 
which they relate grant income is recognised separately from the related expense 
l provisions 
provisions are recognised when the group has a present obligation as a result of a past event and 
it is probable that the group will be required to settle the obligation and its value can be reliably 
estimated 
provisions for repairs 
provisions for repairs are made where the group is committed under the terms of the lease to  
make repairs to leasehold property the provision is made for the estimated cost over the period  
of the lease 
provisions for restructuring costs 
provisions for restructuring costs are recognised when the group has a detailed formal plan for the 
restructuring that has been communicated to affected parties 
m foreign currencies 
transactions in foreign currencies other than sterling are translated at the exchange rate ruling at 
the date of the transaction monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the 
balance sheet date are translated to sterling at the exchange rate ruling at that date 
foreign currency differences arising on translation or settlement of monetary items are recognised 
in the income statement nonmonetary assets and liabilities that are measured in terms of historical 
cost in a foreign currency are translated using the exchange rate at the date of the transaction  
and not retranslated each period end nonmonetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign 
currencies that are stated at fair value are translated to sterling at exchange rates ruling at the  
date the fair value was determined exchange gains and losses arising on the retranslation of  
nonmonetary assets and liabilities are recognised directly in a separate component of equity  
on consolidation the assets and liabilities of the group’s foreign operations are translated into 
sterling at the rates prevailing at the balance sheet date income and expense items and the cash 
flows of foreign operations are translated at the average exchange rates for the period except  
for individually material items which may be translated at the exchange rate on the date of the 
transaction exchange differences arising on retranslation of nonmonetary assets and liabilities  
are recognised directly in a separate component of equity  
such translation differences are recognised in the income statement in the period in which the 
foreign operation is disposed of 
goodwill and fair value adjustments arising on the acquisition of a foreign operation are treated  
as assets and liabilities of the foreign operation and translated at the closing rate   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 67
n borrowing costs 
borrowing costs directly attributable to the acquisition construction or production of qualifying 
assets which are assets that necessarily take a substantial period of time to get ready for their 
intended use or sale are added to the cost of those assets until such time as the assets are 
substantially ready for their intended use or sale 
investment income earned on the temporary investment of specific borrowings pending their 
expenditure on qualifying assets is deducted from the borrowing costs eligible for capitalisation 
all other borrowing costs are recognised in profit or loss in the period in which they are incurred 
o financial instruments 
financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised in the group’s balance sheet when the 
group becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument 
trade receivables 
trade receivables do not carry any interest and are stated at their nominal value as reduced by 
appropriate allowances for estimated irrecoverable amounts allowances are recognised in the 
income statement when there is objective evidence that their asset is impaired 
cash and cash equivalents 
cash and cash equivalents comprise cash in hand and demand deposits 
bank borrowings 
interestbearing bank loans and overdrafts are recorded as the proceeds receivable net of direct 
issue costs finance charges are accounted for on an accruals basis to the income statement 
using the effective interest rate method and are included in creditors to the extent that they are  
not settled in the period in which they arise 
unsecured loan notes 
floating rate guaranteed loan notes are recorded at their nominal value interest payable is 
accounted for on an accruals basis to the income statement using the effective interest rate  
method and is included in creditors to the extent that it is not settled in the period in which it arises 
trade payables 
trade payables are not interest bearing and are stated at their nominal value 
derivative financial instruments and hedge accounting 
the group’s activities expose it primarily to the financial risks of changes in foreign currency 
exchange rates and interest rates the group uses derivative financial instruments to hedge its 
exposure to foreign exchange for the purchase of capital equipment denominated in foreign 
currencies and the sale of goods similarly denominated 
the use of financial derivatives is governed by the group’s policies approved by the board of 
directors which provide written principles on the use of financial derivatives consistent with  
the group’s risk management strategy the group does not hold or issue derivative financial 
instruments for speculative purposes 
changes in the fair value of derivative financial instruments that are designated and effective as 
cash flow hedges of forecast transactions are recognised directly in equity and the ineffective 
portion is recognised immediately in the income statement 
if the cash flow hedge of a firm commitment or forecast transaction results in the recognition of  
an asset or liability then at the time the asset or liability is recognised the associated gains and 
losses on the derivative that had previously been recognised in equity are included in the initial 
measurements of the asset or liability for the hedges that do not result in the recognition of an 
asset or liability amounts deferred in equity are recognised in the income statement in the same 
period on which the hedged item affects the net profit and loss 
the gain or loss on hedging instruments relating to the effective portion of a net investment  
hedge is recognised in equity and the ineffective portion is recognised immediately in the income 
statement gains or losses accumulated in equity are included in the income statement when the 
foreign operations are disposed of  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 68 
2 significant accounting policies continued 
o financial instruments continued 
hedge accounting is discontinued when the hedging instrument expires or is sold terminated  
or exercised or no longer qualifies for hedge accounting 
at that time any cumulative gain or loss on the hedging instrument recognised in equity is retained 
in equity until the forecast transition occurs if a hedge transaction is no longer expected to occur 
the net cumulative gain or loss previously recognised in equity is included in the income statement 
for the period 
derivatives embedded in other financial instruments or other host contracts are treated as separate 
derivatives when their risks and characteristics are not closely related to those of their host 
contracts and the host contracts are not carried at fair value with unrealised gains or losses 
reported in the income statement 
those derivatives which are not designed as hedges are classified as held for trading and gains 
and losses on those instruments are recognised immediately in the income statement 
p retirement benefits 
the group operates both defined benefits and defined contribution schemes for its employees 
payments to the defined contribution schemes are expensed to the income statement as they  
fall due 
for the defined benefits pension scheme full actuarial calculations are carried out every three  
years using the projected unit credit method and updates are performed for each financial  
year end actuarial gains and losses are recognised in full in the period in which they occur  
they are recognised outside the income statement and presented in the consolidated statement  
of comprehensive income 
the retirement benefits obligation recognised in the balance sheet represents the present value of 
the defined benefits obligations and unrecognised past service costs and as reduced by the fair 
value of the scheme’s assets 
any asset resulting from this calculation is limited to past service costs plus the present value of 
available refunds and reductions to the scheme 
past service cost is recognised immediately to the extent that the benefits are already vested  
and otherwise is amortised on a straightline basis over the average period until the benefits 
become vested 
q sharebased payments 
the group makes equitysettled sharebased payments to certain employees which are measured 
at fair value at the date of the grant the fair value determined at the grant date of the equitysettled 
sharebased payments is expensed on a straightline basis over the vesting period based on  
the group’s estimate of shares that will eventually vest the fair value of share options issued  
is measured using a binomial model for the effects of nontransferability exercise restrictions  
and behavioural considerations 
r leases 
leases are classified as finance leases whenever the terms of the lease transfer substantially all the 
risks and rewards of ownership to the lessee all other leases are classified as operating leases 
rental costs under operating leases are charged to the income statement in equal amounts over 
the terms of the lease 
assets held under finance leases are recognised as assets of the group at their fair value or if 
lower the present value of the minimum lease payments each determined at the inception of the 
lease the corresponding liability to the lessor is included in the balance sheet as a finance lease 
obligation lease payments are apportioned between finance charges and reduction of the lease 
obligation so as to achieve a constant rate of interest on the remaining balance of the liability   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 69
s critical accounting judgements 
in the course of applying the group’s accounting policies the following estimations have been 
made which could have a significant effect on the results of the group were they subsequently 
found to be inappropriate 
impairment of goodwill 
determining whether goodwill is impaired requires an estimation of the valueinuse of the cash
generating units for which goodwill has been identified in arriving at the value in use an estimation 
of the future cash flows of cashgenerating units and selecting appropriate discount rates is 
required to calculate present values this process involves estimation the carrying value of 
goodwill at the balance sheet date was £544 million 2009 – £463 million 
impairment of plant and machinery 
the group considers the recoverability of plant and machinery which is included within the balance 
sheet at £648 million the key areas of judgement when assessing the recoverability of these 
assets are in relation to the forecast growth rates and discount rates to be applied to forecast  
cash flows the recoverability analysis at the end of the period indicated that an impairment of  
£12 million was required in respect of assets located at the edenbridge site recorded within  
the commercial products segment following the decision to close this site the situation will be 
monitored closely should future developments indicate that further adjustments are appropriate 
retirement benefits obligations 
the calculation of retirement benefits obligations requires estimates to be made of discount rates 
inflation rates future salary and pension increases and mortality the net liability in the balance 
sheet for retirement benefits obligations is £329 million 2009 – £383 million 
allowances against amounts receivable  
the group considers the recoverability of certain customer and other receivable balances 
determining whether an allowance against these balances is required involves an assessment  
of the ability of counterparties to make required payments if the financial positions of the 
counterparties were to deteriorate affecting their ability to make payments additional allowances 
may be required in future periods the group maintains credit insurance covering its larger trade 
debtors a rigorous system of credit control is applied and amounts receivable are continually 
monitored management specifically monitors historical bad debt counterparty creditworthiness 
current economic trends and changes in payment patterns when evaluating the adequacy of the 
allowances in place 
3  revenue 
an analysis of the group’s revenue as defined by international accounting standard 18 − 
‘revenue’ is as follows 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
continuing operations 
revenue from the sale of goods and rendering of services 362256 386782
investment income note 8 13267 12857
 375523 399639
discontinued operations 
revenue note 12 – 23592
total revenue 375523 423231
  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 70 
4 segment reporting 
the group manages its business on a market segment basis the nature of the market segments  
is described in the business review  
intersegment sales are charged at arm’s length prices corporate costs before nonunderlying 
items are allocated to revenuegenerating segments  
as detailed in note 12 the us segment was sold on 22 january 2009 and is classified as a 
discontinued operation throughout the comparative period and is not included below 
the acquisition of occam as detailed in note 11 is recorded within the commercial products 
segment below 
business segments 
 52 weeks to 30 july 2010 
 
 
media 
products 
£’000 
commercial 
products 
£’000 
elimination
£’000
total
£’000
revenue   
external sales 147513 214743 – 362256
intersegment sales 3084 3519 6603 –
total revenue 150597 218262 6603 362256
   
result   
segmental result 11643 1940 – 9703
add back nonunderlying items 1942 4368 – 6310
segmental result before nonunderlying items 13585 2428 – 16013
total nonunderlying items       6310
profit from operations      9703
investment income      13267
finance costs      14866
profit before tax      8104
income tax charge      366
profit for the period from continuing operations      7738
   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 71
 
 52 weeks to 31 july 2009 
 
 
media 
products 
£’000 
commercial 
products 
£’000 
elimination 
£’000 
total
£’000 
revenue   
external sales 154492 232290 – 386782
intersegment sales 1344 3460 4804 –
total revenue 155836 235750 4804 386782
   
result   
segmental result 7257 11639 – 4382
add back nonunderlying items 5084 9448 – 14532
segmental result before nonunderlying items 12341 2191 – 10150
total nonunderlying items      14532
loss from operations      4382
investment income      12857
finance costs      15716
loss before tax      7241
income tax credit      916
loss for the period from continuing operations      6325
other information excluding discontinued operations 
 52 weeks to 30 july 2010 
 
 
media 
products 
£’000 
commercial 
products
£’000
total
£’000
capital additions 5673 2610 8283
depreciation and amortisation 11645 7414 19059
impairment – 1171 1171
 
 52 weeks to 31 july 2009 
 
 
media 
products 
£’000 
commercial 
products
£’000 
total
£’000 
capital additions 16324 3440 19764
depreciation and amortisation 10921 9203 20124
impairment 219 20002219
balance sheet 
 52 weeks to 30 july 2010 
 
 
media 
products 
£’000 
commercial 
products
£’000
total
£’000
assets  
segment assets 98918 148247 247165
unallocated corporate assets  15933
consolidated total assets  263098
  
liabilities  
segment liabilities 30884 54981 85865
unallocated corporate liabilities  47347
consolidated total liabilities  133212
  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 72 
4 segment reporting continued  
 52 weeks to 31 july 2009 
 
 
media 
products 
£’000 
commercial 
products
£’000 
total
£’000 
assets  
segment assets 107012 147888 254900
unallocated corporate assets  22275
consolidated total assets  277175
  
liabilities  
segment liabilities 32507 49759 82266
unallocated corporate liabilities  72841
consolidated total liabilities  155107
geographical segments 
the media products and commercial products market segments operate primarily in the uk 
deriving more than 90 of their revenues and profits from operations and customers located in  
the uk 
the largest customer of the group accounted for £375 million of consolidated revenue in the 
period 2009 − £391 million 
reconciliation of segment assets and liabilities 
 
30 july 2010
£’000
31 july 2009
£’000 
unallocated corporate assets comprise 
deferred tax assets 1355 3484
current tax receivable 568 1666
financial assets 3495 3109
cash and cash equivalents 10515 14016
unallocated assets as per balance sheet 15933 22275
 
unallocated corporate liabilities comprise 
loans and bank overdrafts current – 33016
deferred tax liabilities 1267 1542
loans and bank overdrafts noncurrent 13193 –
retirement benefits obligations 32887 38283
unallocated liabilities as per balance sheet 47347 72841  
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 73
5 profitloss from operations 
profitloss from operations has been arrived at after chargingcrediting 
 continuing operations discontinued operations total 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
2010 
£’000 
2009 
£’000 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
auditors’ remuneration          
audit fees         
– audit of the company accounts  62 62 – – 62 62
– audit of the accounts of the 
company’s subsidiaries 206 210 – – 206 210
interim review 28 28 – – 28 28
nonaudit fees       
corporate finance services – 85 – – – 85
tax services 7 34 – – 7 34
other services 64 22 – – 64 22
 367 441  367 441
staff costs note 6 113672 124822 – 8347 113672 133169
net foreign exchange gains – 204 – – – 204
depreciation of property plant and 
equipment note 15 18303 19276 – 1484 18303 20760
impairment of property plant and 
equipment note 15 1171 2219 – – 1171 2219
amortisation of intangible assets 
note 16 756 848 – 75 756 923
operating lease rentals   
– land and buildings 1450 1212 – 59 1450 1271
– plant and equipment 2560 1550 – – 2560 1550
– other 699 529 – 86 699 615
profitloss on disposal of property 
plant and equipment 2374 331 – 37 2374 368
regional grant amortisation note 24 435 198 – – 435 198
  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 74 
6 staff costs 
the average monthly number of employees including executive directors was 
 continuing operations discontinued operations total 
 
 
2010
number
2009
number 
2010 
number 
2009 
number 
2010
number
2009
number 
production 2488 2700 – 218 2488 2918
sales 447 502 – 22 447 524
administration 457 464 – 21 457 485
3392 3666 – 261 3392 3927
their aggregate remuneration comprised 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
2010 
£’000 
2009 
£’000 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
wages and salaries 99160 110486 – 7095 99160 117581
social security costs 10202 11259 – 1169 10202 12428
other pension costs 4250 3226 – 83 4250 3309
 113612 124971 – 8347 113612 133318
sharebased payments note 31 60 149 – – 60 149
 113672 124822 – 8347 113672 133169
the number of employees in discontinued operations for 2009 represents an average  
calculated over the 52 week period to 31 july 2009 discontinued operations were divested  
on 22 january 2009 
7 nonunderlying items 
nonunderlying items ‘middle column’ items disclosed on the face of the consolidated income 
statement included in respect of continuing operations are as follows 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
expenseincome 
restructuring items 
redundancies impairments and other charges 7936 13801
provision releases 612 –
profitloss on disposal of fixed assets 2040 807
profit on disposal of dutch music and multimedia business – 345
 5284 14263
 
other 
operating losses from noncontinuing operations 358 –
amortisation of acquired intangibles  105 –
remaining other nonunderlying expenses 563 269
 6310 14532
income tax credit 4106 3114
 2204 11418
   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 75
restructuring items 
current year 
included within redundancies impairment and other charges are redundancies and other charges 
of £4043000 relating to the closure of the edenbridge site the activities of the edenbridge site  
are recorded within the commercial products segment also included here are redundancy and  
other charges associated with restructuring activities within the media products and commercial 
products segments provision releases include the release of £420000 in respect of costs 
associated with the andover site closure recorded within the media products segment and a 
release of £161000 associated with the costs of maintaining the romford building recorded  
within the commercial products segment profit on disposal of fixed assets includes a gain of 
£1614000 from the disposal of the romford building which was held within the commercial 
products segment as well as gains of £427000 on disposal of plant and equipment in the  
media products segment 
prior year 
included within redundancies impairment and other charges are redundancies and other charges 
of £6503000 relating to the closure of the crayford site and £2621000 relating to the closure of 
the andover site the activities of the crayford site are recorded within the commercial products 
segment and those of the andover site within the media products segment also included here  
are redundancy and other charges associated with restructuring activities within the media 
products and commercial products segments including termination costs associated with  
senior management 
losses arose on the disposal of plant and equipment by entities within the commercial products 
£470000 and media products £337000 segments 
the assets and liabilities of the music and multimedia business in uden the netherlands  
were sold on 24 september 2008 resulting in a net gain of £345000 recorded in the media 
products segment 
other 
current year 
operating losses from noncontinuing operations classified as nonunderlying items relate  
to operating results arising after the decision to close a site in the period these arose in the 
andover site recorded within the media products segment and the hayes site recorded within  
the commercial products segment amortisation of acquired intangibles relates to customer 
relationships and inhouse developed software acquired with occam in the period remaining 
other nonunderlying expenses comprise £418000 of costs incurred in connection with the occam 
acquisition principally professional advisers’ fees and £130000 related to the settlement of a 
healthrelated legal claim from a former employee  
prior year 
the costs and loss of profits arising from a fire in a dryer at the edenbridge plant were reimbursable 
through insurance arrangements except for the policy excess the unreimbursable costs of 
£250000 corresponding to the policy excess were classified as middle column and allocated  
to the commercial products segment 
tax 
for the current year as well as the tax effects of the items noted above of £1653000 the tax  
credit of £4106000 includes a credit of £2453000 comprising the release of a deferred tax  
liability in respect of rolled over capital gains the current tax effect of a carryback and offset of 
unrecognised trading losses in the netherlands and the revaluation of net deferred tax liabilities 
following the substantial enactment of the reduction of the uk corporate tax rate from 28 to 27 
from april 2011  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 76 
8 investment income 
 continuing operations 
 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
interest on bank deposits – 106
expected return on defined benefits pension scheme assets note 26 13267 12594
interest receivable on loans to discontinued operations  – 157
 13267 12857
9 finance costs 
 continuing operations 
 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
interest on bank overdrafts and loans 1160 1882
interest on obligations under finance leases – 8
 1160 1890
 
finance charge on retirement benefits obligations note 26 13706 13826
 14866 15716
10 income tax chargecredit 
income tax on profitloss as shown in the income statement is as follows 
 continuing operations discontinued operations total 
 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
2010 
£’000 
2009 
£’000 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
uk corporation tax chargecredit at 28 
2009 – 28      
current year 1837 4152 – 1540 1837 2612
adjustments in respect of prior years 878 469 – – 878 469
 959 3683 – 1540 959 2143
overseas current tax chargecredit   
current year  – – – 69 – 69
adjustments in respect of prior years 545 98 – – 545 98
total current tax chargecredit 414 3585 – 1471 414 2114
deferred tax on origination and  
reversal of temporary differences         
uk deferred tax 668 4854 – – 668 4854
adjustments in respect of prior years 716 353 – – 716 353
total deferred tax credit note 18 48 4501 – – 48 4501
total income tax chargecredit 366 916 – 1471 366 2387
   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 77
the income tax chargecredit on the profitloss before and after nonunderlying items is  
as follows 
 continuing operations discontinued operations total 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
2010 
£’000 
2009 
£’000 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
tax charge on profit before  
nonunderlying items 4472 2198 – 69 4472 2267
tax credit on nonunderlying items 4106 3114 – 1540 4106 4654
 366 916 – 1471 366 2387
the charge can be reconciled to the profit before tax shown in the income statement as follows 
 continuing operations discontinued operations total 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
2010 
£’000 
2009 
£’000 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
profitloss before tax 8104 7241 – 9704 8104 16945
tax calculated at a rate of 28  
2009 – 28 2269 2027 – 2717 2269 4744
nondeductible losses on disposal  
of subsidiaries – – – 2870 – 2870
expenses not deductible for tax purposes 580 1523 – 69 580 1592
nontaxable income 32 293 – 1540 32 1833
overseas losses not recognised – 96 – – – 96
utilisation of losses previously unrecognised – – – 153 – 153
effect of change in uk corporate tax rate 312 – – – 312 –
adjustments in respect of prior years 2139 215 – – 2139 215
total income tax chargecredit 366 916 – 1471 366 2387 notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 78 
11 acquisition 
on 1 june 2010 the group acquired 100 of all classes of shares in occam dm limited 
‘occam’ a provider of database marketing services goodwill arising on the acquisition relates to 
the value of future growth from new customers and of the assembled workforce the fair values of 
the net assets acquired were as follows 
purchase price allocation  
 
historical net 
assets 
£’000 
fair value 
adjustments
£’000
fair value of 
net assets
£’000
software – 1628 1628
customer relationships – 1801 1801
property plant and equipment 313 – 313
inventories 226 – 226
trade and other receivables 1352 –1352
bank balances and cash 340 – 340
trade and other payables 1520 –1520
deferred tax liabilities – 535 535
net assets acquired 711 2894 3605
goodwill arising on acquisition   8109
  11714
the fair value of the total consideration payable is as follows 
  £’000
paid in cash prior to 30 july 2010  10857
st ives plc ordinary shares issued on 1 june 2010  20
payable in cash or shares after 30 july 2010  837
total consideration  11714
the acquisition had the following impact on investing cash outflows in the period 
  £’000
cash paid in the period   10857
cash acquired  340
net cash outflow in the period  10517
of the £837000 outstanding at 30 july 2010 £776000 was paid in cash after the balance sheet 
date and the balance of £61000 was settled by 96173 st ives plc ordinary shares issued at 
6285p on 19 august 2010 
had occam been acquired at the beginning of the financial year it would have had the following 
impact on the group’s operating results  
£’000 
revenue 7566
operating profit 718
   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 79
12 discontinued operations 
on 22 january 2009 the group disposed of its us segment st ives usa inc and its subsidiary 
undertakings the us segment is classified as a discontinued operation in this annual report and 
accounts and prior period figures have been restated accordingly 
the profit after tax for the prior period from the discontinued operation is analysed below 
profit from the us segment 
 
22 january 
2009
£’000 
revenue 23592
operating costs 22890
operating profit before nonunderlying items 702
interest expense 157
profit before tax before nonunderlying items 545
income tax charge 69
profit after tax before nonunderlying items 476
nonunderlying items 
 
22 january 
2009
£’000 
loss on disposal of the us segment before tax 10554
other nonunderlying items 305
total nonunderlying items before tax 10249
tax credit on disposal 1540
total nonunderlying items after tax 8709
loss from discontinued operations 
 
22 january 
2009
£’000 
profit after tax before nonunderlying items 476
nonunderlying items 8709
total loss from discontinued operations 8233
  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 80 
12 discontinued operations continued 
the net assets of the us segment at the date of disposal 22 january 2009 were as follows 
22 january 
2009
£’000 
attributable goodwill 8405
other intangible assets 210
property plant and equipment 21515
inventories 4389
trade and other receivables 11345
bank balances and cash 3186
trade and other payables 11984
other liabilities 128
net assets 36938
recycling of cumulative foreign exchange translation losses  1056
loss on disposal before tax 10554
total consideration receivable net of selling costs 27440
 
£’000 
consideration net of selling costs received in cash in the period 23794
promissory loan note 3646
total consideration receivable net of selling costs 27440
net cash inflow 
net cash inflow arising from the disposal in the period 
£’000 
total consideration net of selling costs received in cash in the period 23794
cash included in net assets disposed of in the period 3186
proceeds in the period on disposal net of cash disposed 20608
the terms of the promissory loan note are detailed in note 17 
13 dividends 
 per share 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
final dividend paid for the 52 weeks ended 1 august 2008 1215p – 12521
interim dividend paid for the 26 weeks to 30 january 2009 175p – 1803
final dividend paid for the 52 weeks ended 31 july 2009 05p 515 –
interim dividend paid for the 26 weeks to 29 january 2010 175p 1803 –
dividends paid during the period  2318 14324
proposed final dividend at the period end of 175p per share  
2009 – 05p per share   1803 515
the proposed final dividend is subject to the approval by shareholders at the 2010 annual general 
meeting and has not been included as a liability in these financial statements   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 81
14 earnings per share 
the calculation of the basic and diluted earnings per share is based on the following data 
number of shares 
 
2010
’000
2009
’000 
weighted average number of ordinary shares for the  
purposes of basic and diluted earnings per share 103056 103051
basic and diluted earnings per share 
 2010 2009 
 
 
earnings 
£’000 
earnings 
per share 
pence 
earnings
£’000 
earnings
per share
pence 
earnings and earnings per share from 
continuing activities   
earningslosses and basic earningslosses per share 7738 751 6325 614
nonunderlying items 2204 214 11418 1108
underlying earnings and underlying earnings per share 9942 965 5093 494
 
 2010 2009 
 
 
earnings 
£’000 
earnings 
per share 
pence 
earnings
£’000 
earnings
per share
pence 
earnings and earnings per share from 
discontinued activities   
losses and basic losses per share – – 8233 799
nonunderlying items – – 8709 845
underlying earnings and underlying earnings per share – – 476 046
basic earningslosses per share from continuing and 
discontinued activities – 751 – 1413
underlying earnings is calculated by adding back nonunderlying items as adjusted for tax to the 
profitloss for the period see note 7 
the average market price of the company’s ordinary shares during both periods was below the 
exercise price of all options in issue on these shares as the options are not dilutive the same 
number of shares is used for calculating basic and diluted earnings per share  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 82 
15 property plant and equipment 
land and buildings 
 
freehold
£’000
long leases 
£’000 
plant and 
machinery 
£’000 
fixtures 
fittings 
equipment 
and motor 
vehicles
£’000
total
£’000
cost or valuation   
at 1 august 2008 60646 5482 313043 18385 397556
exchange differences 4027 17 21487 793 26324
additions 203954 16550 146520108
disposals – discontinued operations 14985 62 78126 2314 95487
disposals – other 107 9 25947 1815 27878
reclassifications 10– 1 11–
at 31 july 2009 51610 5482 247006 16525 320623
acquisitions –– 304 9313
additions 67435 6048 7227479
disposals –168 31905 363835711
reclassification – noncurrent assets 63 – 45 42 60
reclassification – assets held for sale  2297 – 111 840 3248
at 30 july 2010 50050 5349 221297 12820 289516
accumulated depreciation and impairment        
at 1 august 2008 14777 1869 226843 12486 255975
exchange differences 1768 16 18013 723 20520
charge for the period 1039 427 17205 2089 20760
impairment losses 2000 – 219 – 2219
disposals – discontinued operations 6551 62 65291 2068 73972
disposals – other 65 6 25250 1736 27057
at 31 july 2009 12968 2244 171739 11494 198445
charge for the period 853 437 15469 1544 18303
impairment losses – – 1162 9 1171
disposals –168 31885 273034783
reclassification – noncurrent assets – – 50 – 50
reclassification – assets held for sale 669 – 68 371 1108
at 30 july 2010 13152 2513 156467 9946 182078
net book value   
at 30 july 2010 36898 2836 64830 2874 107438
at 31 july 2009 38642 3238 75267 5031 122178
impairment losses £1170000 arose on plant and machinery at the edenbridge site recorded 
within the commercial products segment following the decision to close the site the plant and 
machinery has been transferred to other group sites and impairment losses have been measured 
by reference to valueinuse the impairment losses have been recorded as nonunderlying items 
the freehold property at lavington street london was reclassified as an asset held for sale in the 
period at its net book value of £2140000    
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 83
the group has freehold land included within property plant and equipment and assets held  
for sale with a book value of £6175000 2009 – £6072000 which has not been depreciated  
the amount of fully depreciated property plant and equipment and assets held for sale is 
£107207000 2009 – £141379000 
included in the group’s cost of plant and machinery are items in the course of construction 
amounting to £517000 2009 – £7235000 
the carrying amount of the group’s property plant and equipment in respect of assets held under 
finance lease are £nil 2009 – £nil 
16 goodwill and other intangible assets 
 £’000
cost and carrying amount 
at 1 august 2008 54679
disposals – discontinued operations 8405
at 31 july 2009 46274
acquisitions 8109
at 30 july 2010 54383
goodwill is allocated amongst the following cashgenerating units 
 £’000
sp group 31322
service graphics 14952
occam 8109
 54383
sp group service graphics and occam are reported within the commercial products segment  
the group tests goodwill annually for impairment or more frequently if there are indications that 
goodwill might be impaired 
occam’s recoverable amount was tested by reference to market value at 30 july 2010  
the recoverable amounts of the other cash generating units ‘cgus’ are determined using  
valueinuse calculations the key assumptions for the valueinuse calculations are those 
regarding discount rates growth rates and expected changes to selling prices and direct costs 
and therefore profits and losses during the forecast period management estimates discount  
rates using pretax rates that reflect current market assessments of the time value of money and  
the risks specific to the cgus changes in selling prices and direct costs are based on past 
practices and expectations of future changes in the market the group prepares cash flow 
forecasts derived from the most recent mediumterm business forecasts with a terminal value 
calculation the key assumptions used in the valueinuse calculations as well as the sensitivities  
to the key revenue growth assumption are detailed below 
 sp group
service 
graphics
valueinuse assumptions 
pretax discount rate 126 126
terminal growth used in terminal value calculation 30 30
average annual revenue growth used in five year forecast calculation 36 52
excess of valueinuse over carrying value £’000 14280 5460
sensitivity of valueinuse to changes in key growth assumption 
average annual revenue growth in five year forecast calculation resulting 
in potential impairment 29 47
  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 84 
16 goodwill and other intangible assets continued 
other intangible assets 
 
 
computer 
software 
£’000 
customer 
relationships
£’000
total 
£’000
cost  
at 1 august 2008 5431 – 5431
exchange differences 366 – 366
additions 613 –613
disposals – discontinued operations 1320 – 1320
disposals – other 625 – 625
at 31 july 2009 4465 – 4465
acquisitions 1628 18013429
additions 804 –804
reclassifications – noncurrent assets  60 – 60
disposals 176 –176
at 30 july 2010 6661 1801 8462
accumulated amortisation  
at 1 august 2008 3678 – 3678
exchange differences 296 – 296
charge for the period 923 – 923
disposals – discontinued operations 1111 – 1111
disposals – other 536 – 536
at 31 july 2009 3250 – 3250
charge for the period 705 51 756
reclassifications – noncurrent assets  50 – 50
disposals 177 –177
at 30 july 2010 3728 51 3779
net book value  
at 30 july 2010 2933 1750 4683
at 31 july 2009 1215 – 1215
17 financial assets 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
loans receivable carried at amortised cost 3495 3109
loans receivable carried at amortised cost comprises a us dollardenominated promissory loan 
note plus rolled up interest receivable of us55 million the promissory loan note bears interest  
at 6 per annum and is repayable in instalments with us10 million due on 1 february 2012 
us10 million due on 1 february 2013 and us30 million due on 1 february 2014 loan interest 
may be rolled up into the principal until 1 february 2012 the note is secured on the plant and 
equipment inventory and receivables of the us segment sold in the prior financial period   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 85
18 deferred tax 
deferred income taxes are calculated in full on temporary differences under the liability method 
using a principal tax rate of 27 2009 – 28 
the gross movement on the deferred income tax account is as follows 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
at the beginning of the period 1942 39
acquisitions 535 –
income statement credit note 10 48 4501
items taken directly to equity  1367 2598
at the end of the period 88 1942
the movement in the deferred tax assets and liabilities recognised during the period and prior 
reporting period was as follows 
 
accelerated 
tax 
depreciation
£’000
retirement 
benefits 
obligations
£’000
rolled over 
capital gains
£’000
revenue tax 
losses
£’000
shortterm 
timing 
differences 
£’000 
derivative 
financial 
instruments 
£’000 
acquired 
intangible 
assets
£’000
total
£’000
balance at 
1 august 2008 14414 13537 1071 659 1328 – – 39
creditcharge to 
income statement 4489 271471 660 94 – –4501
items taken directly  
to equity  –2546 – – – 52 –2598
disposals 659––659– – ––
balance at 31 july 2009 9266 10720 1542 660 1422 52 – 1942
acquisitions 86––3363 – 960535
creditcharge to 
income statement 98 4371173 672 177 – 63 48
items taken directly  
to equity  –1403 – – – 36 –1367
balance at 
30 july 2010 9082 8880 369 324 1248 16 897 88
deferred tax assets and liabilities are classified in the balance sheet as follows 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
deferred tax assets 1355 3484
deferred tax liabilities 1267 1542
 88 1942
deferred tax assets and liabilities are offset when there is a legally enforceable right to set off 
current tax assets against current tax liabilities and when the deferred income taxes relate to the 
same fiscal authority  
at 30 july 2010 deferred tax assets in respect of losses at current tax rates all of which have an 
unlimited life are as follows 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
recognised deferred tax in respect of losses 324 660
  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 86 
19 inventories 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
raw materials 5257 5652
work in progress 4581 4990
finished products 640 –
 10478 10642
less payments on account and provisions  366 –
 10112 10642
there was no material writedown of inventories in either period 
20 other financial assets 
trade and other receivables 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
current 
amounts receivable for the sale of goods and services 61945 63595
allowance for doubtful debts 2851 3308
trade receivables  59094 60287
other receivables 3394 4637
prepayments and other assets 5660 6761
 68148 71685
 
 
2010 
£’000
2009
£’000 
noncurrent 
other noncurrent assets 202 1415
the directors consider that the carrying amount of trade and other receivables approximates their 
fair value 
derivative financial instruments 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
forward foreign currency contracts  59 209
all forward foreign currency contracts are designated and effective as hedging instruments 
cash and cash equivalents 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
cash and cash equivalents 10515 14016
cash and cash equivalents comprise cash held by the group and shortterm bank deposits with an 
original maturity of three months or less the carrying amounts of these assets approximate their 
fair value   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 87
21 assets held for sale 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
assets held for sale 
freehold land and buildings 2140 1282
the romford site classified under assets held for sale at 31 july 2009 was sold on 8 october 2009 
for a net consideration of £2896000 at 30 july 2010 the property at lavington street london was 
reclassified as an asset held for sale 
22 trade and other payables 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
trade creditors 51768 48322
other creditors 6246 8922
other taxes and social security 12009 9749
accruals 9897 7436
 79920 74429
the directors consider that the carrying amount of trade and other payables approximates their  
fair value 
23 loans and bank overdrafts 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
bank loans 13193 33016
the borrowings are repayable as follows 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
on demand or within one year – 33016
between one and two years 13193 –
 13193 33016
loans and bank overdrafts 
the loan balances drawn on the £80 million multicurrency loan agreement at 31 july 2009 were 
repaid in full on 10 september 2009 and the facility was cancelled the loans were repaid out of  
a new threeyear £70 million revolving multicurrency loan agreement commencing on that date  
of which up to £15 million may be drawn on as an overdraft facility interest on loan drawdowns is 
charged at libor plus a margin which varies between 225 and 275 depending on the ratio 
of the group’s net debt to ebitda excluding middle column items interest on overdraft drawdowns 
is charged at 200 over uk base rate as at 30 july 2010 the group outstanding loans within this 
agreement were £10 million and us5 million 2009 – £30 million and us5 million the undrawn 
portion of this facility at 30 july 2010 was £568 million 2009 – £469 million  
as at 30 july 2010 there was no loan or overdraft secured against the assets of the group 
2009 – £nil  
the directors consider that the carrying amount of the loans approximates their fair value  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 88 
24 deferred income 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
uk regional capital grants  708 1143
advance billings and other deferred income  819 691
 1527 1834
 
current deferred income  934 851
noncurrent deferred income  593 983
 1527 1834
 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
movement in uk regional capital grants   
balance at the beginning of the period 1143 1341
transfer to income statement 435 198
balance at the end of the period 708 1143
25 provisions 
 
provision for 
repairs
£’000
provision for 
reorganisation 
£’000 
other
£’000
total
£’000 
balance at 1 august 2008 1223 1453 150 2826
exchange differences – 183 – 183
charged to the income statement 242 5484 – 5726
credited to the income statement 42 638 150 830
disposal – discontinued operations – 112 – 112
utilised during the period 5 1785 – 1790
balance at 31 july 2009 1418 4585 – 6003
charged to the income statement 296 3313 – 3609
credited to the income statement 142 937 – 1079
utilised during the period 330 3785 – 4115
balance at 30 july 2010 1242 3176 – 4418
current  576 3176 – 3752
noncurrent 666– –666
 1242 3176 –4418
provision for repairs 
where the group is committed under the terms of a lease to make repairs to leasehold premises 
provision for repairs is made for these estimated costs over a period of the lease it is anticipated 
that these liabilities will crystallise between 2010 and 2021 
provision for reorganisation 
the provision for reorganisation relates primarily to the remaining costs in respect of plant closures 
and relocation and comprises severance payments plant relocation and other costs unfunded 
pension liabilities and onerous property costs which are expected to be settled by the end of the 
2011 financial year the charge in the period relates principally to the closure of the edenbridge 
hayes and salisbury sites all of which are included in the commercial products segment as well 
as restructuring activities in all sites within the magazines business which are included in the media 
products segment   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 89
26 retirement benefits 
defined contribution schemes 
the group operates defined contribution schemes for all qualifying employees the assets of  
the schemes are held separately from those of the group in funds under control of the trustees 
payments to the schemes are expensed to the income statement as they fall due the total expense 
recognised in the income statement for continuing operations of £639000 2009 – £588000 
represents contributions payable to these schemes by the group at rates specified in the rules  
of the schemes at 31 july 2010 contributions of £183000 2009 – £298000 due in respect of  
the 2010 reporting period had not been paid over to the schemes the amounts were paid over 
subsequent to the balance sheet date within the requisite time limits  
the pension cost relating to foreign schemes was £nil 2009 – £nil 
defined benefits scheme – st ives group 
the group operates the st ives defined benefits pension scheme with assets held in separate 
trustee administered funds this scheme was closed to new entrants from 6 april 2002 and closed 
to future benefit accruals with effect from 31 august 2008  
the most recent full actuarial valuations of the scheme assets and the present value of the defined 
benefits obligations were carried out at 6 april 2007 by jonathan punter fellow of the institute of 
actuaries punter southall  co ltd ‘the actuary’ who is independent of the group this valuation 
was updated at 31 july 2010 the present value of the defined benefits obligation and the related 
current service cost and past service cost were measured using the projected unit credit method 
the principal assumptions used for the purpose of the actuarial valuations were as follows 
 
2010 
per annum
2009 
per annum 
discount rate 540 600
expected rate of inflation 330 350
expected rate of salary increases 000 450
future pension increases 315 330
postretirement mortality in the 2009 calculation is in accordance with the pa00 tables with future 
mortality improvements from 2002 in line with the ‘92 series’ year of birth projections allowing for  
the medium cohort effect and a minimum level of improvements of 1 per annum the base table 
has been adjusted to assume 6 greater mortality for males and 4 greater mortality for females  
the amount recognised in the balance sheet in respect of the group’s defined benefits scheme is 
as follows 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
present value of funded obligations 251105 232482
fair value of scheme assets 218218 194199
 32887 38283
  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 90 
26 retirement benefits continued 
amounts recognised in profit and loss in respect of the defined benefits scheme are as follows 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
current service cost 200 451
curtailments – 124
interest on obligation note 9 13706 13826
expected return on scheme assets note 8 13267 12594
 639 1559
the current service cost and curtailment credit were allocated to functional cost lines in the  
income statement expected return on assets is recorded under investment income and interest  
on obligation is recorded under finance costs the actual return on scheme assets was a profit  
of £29698000 2009 – £8545000 
changes in the present value of defined benefits obligations are as follows 
 
52 weeks to 
30 july 2010
£’000
52 weeks to 
31 july 2009
£’000 
opening defined benefits obligation 232482 226605
service cost 200 451
interest cost 13706 13826
curtailments and settlements – 124
contributions by scheme participants – 286
agerelated rebates 343 375
actuarial losses 12596 1462
benefits paid 8222 10399
closing defined benefits obligation 251105 232482
changes in the fair value of scheme assets are as follows 
 
52 weeks to 
30 july 2010
£’000
52 weeks to 
31 july 2009
£’000 
opening fair value of scheme assets 194199 178261
expected returns 13267 12594
actuarial gainslosses 16431 4049
contributions by employer 2200 17131
contributions by scheme members – 286
agerelated rebates 343 375
benefits paid 8222 10399
closing fair value of scheme assets 218218 194199
   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 91
the fair value of the scheme assets at the balance sheet date is analysed as follows 
 
longterm 
rate of return 
expected at 
30 july 2010 
per annum 
value at  
30 july 2010 
£’000 
longterm 
rate of return 
expected at 
31 july 2009
per annum 
value at 
31 july 2009
£’000 
equity instruments 780 128680 800 115749
bonds 460 87795 540 77720
other  050 1743 050 730
  218218 194199
the scheme assets do not include any of the group’s own financial instruments nor any property 
occupied by or other assets used by the group the expected rates of return on the individual 
categories of the scheme assets are determined following actuarial advice the overall expected 
rate of return is calculated by weighting the individual rates in accordance with the anticipated 
balance in the scheme’s investment portfolio 
the history of the scheme for the current and prior period is as follows 
 
2010
£’000
2009 
£’000 
2008 
£’000 
2007
£’000 
2006
£’000 
present value of defined benefits obligations 251105 232482 226605 220872 225887
fair value of scheme assets 218218 194199 178261 175669 166416
deficit 32887 38283 48344 45203 59471
experience adjustments on scheme liabilities 8844 1462 1462 1700 4798
percentage of scheme deficit 35 06 06 08 21
experience adjustments on scheme assets 16431 4049 13915 911 4176
percentage of scheme assets 75 21 78 05 25
the group expects to contribute £2200000 to the scheme in 2011 
27 financial risk management 
the group’s treasury function is responsible for managing the group’s exposure to financial risk 
and operates within a defined set of policies and procedures reviewed and approved by the board 
interest rate risk 
the group carries a cash flow risk where there are changes in the interest rate levied on the 
group’s interest rate borrowings as currently interest on the group’s borrowings is at floating rates 
the group finances its operations through a mixture of retained earnings and bank borrowings 
group policy is to constantly review the exposure risk to interest rate fluctuations in relation to the 
risk as a proportion of group earnings and wherever possible with matching shortterm deposits of 
surplus funds the group is not subject to fair value interest rate risk as all debt is at floating rate  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 92 
27 financial risk management continued 
interest rate management 
an analysis of financial assets and liabilities exposed to interest rate risk is set out below 
financial assets subject to interest rate risk 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
sterling 10209 13505
us dollar 1 63
other 305 448
 10515 14016 
the group’s financial assets comprise cash and cash equivalents all of which attract interest at 
floating rates based upon libor or equivalent measures 
financial liabilities subject to interest rate risk 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
sterling bank loans 10000 30000
us dollar bank loans 3193 3016
 13193 33016
the group’s financial liabilities comprise loan borrowings which bear interest at floating rates  
based upon libor and overdraft borrowings which bear interest at floating rates based upon  
uk base rate 
interest rate sensitivity analysis  
the analysis below has been performed assuming that the amount of the liability outstanding at the 
balance sheet date was outstanding for the whole year 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
100 2009 – 10 movement in sterling libor 65 105
the changes would not have impacted other equity reserves as all interest bearing financial assets 
and liabilities are subject to floating interest rates and their fair values do not fluctuate with changes 
in interest rates 
foreign exchange risk 
the group has us 55 million loan receivable in order to provide protection to the group’s 
sterling balance sheet from the movements in the us dollarsterling exchange rate the group 
finances this receivable through borrowings of us 50 million as a result the group’s balance 
sheet is not significantly exposed to movements in the us dollarsterling exchange rate   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 93
forward foreign exchange contracts 
the group enters into forward foreign exchange contracts to cover specific foreign currency 
payments and receipts and to manage the risk associated with anticipated sale and purchase 
transactions basis adjustments are made to the carrying amount of nonfinancial hedged items 
when the anticipated sale or purchase transaction takes place 
the following table details the forward currency contracts outstanding at the year end 
 
average 
exchange rate 
sterlingeuro 
foreign 
currency 
eur’000
contract 
value 
£’000
fair
value 
£’000
sell euros up to 30 months 117 2682 2292 59
the group has entered into contracts to supply goods to customers trading in continental europe 
at prices denominated in euros forward foreign exchange contracts have been used to hedge  
the exchange rate risk arising from these commitments which are designated as cash flow hedges  
as at 30 july 2010 the aggregate amount of unrealised profits under forward foreign exchange 
contracts deferred in the hedging reserve relating to the exposure on trade receivables and 
anticipated sale transactions amounted to £59000 it is anticipated that the sales will be made  
in the 24 months following the balance sheet date  
credit risk 
the group’s principal financial assets are bank balances and cash trade and other receivables 
which represent the group’s maximum exposure to credit risk in relation to financial assets  
the group’s credit risk is primarily attributable to its trade receivables the amounts presented  
in the balance sheet are net of allowances for doubtful receivables estimated by the group’s 
management based on prior experience and their assessment of the current economic 
environment the group’s credit risk is relatively low as the group maintains credit insurance  
up to a maximum aggregate claim in any one year of £3 million in addition its uk subsidiaries’  
sales are principally with a large number of counterparties and customers in the uk and are 
denominated in sterling 
before accepting any new customer the group uses an external credit scoring system to assess 
the potential customer’s credit quality and defines credit limits by customer limits and scoring 
attributed to customers are reviewed regularly trade receivables include an amount with a single 
large customer which represents more than 10 of the total balance this customer has the highest 
credit score attributable under the credit scoring method used by the group 
included in the group’s trade receivables are debtors with a carrying value for which the group 
has not provided as there has not been a significant change in credit quality and the amounts  
are still considered recoverable the group does not hold any collateral over these balances 
included in the group’s trade receivables balance are debtors with a carrying amount of  
£154 million 2009 – £78 million which are past due at the reporting date for which the group  
has not provided as there has not been a significant change in credit quality and the amounts  
are still considered recoverable  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 94 
27 financial risk management continued 
ageing of impaired receivables 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
between 0 and 59 days 883 871
between 60 and 89 days 1162 1233
between 90 and 119 days 761 599
120 days and above 45 605
 2851 3308
movement in the allowance for doubtful debts 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
balance at the beginning of the period  3308 2592
impairment losses recognised  1133 2106
amounts written off as uncollectible 1286 –
amounts recovered during the year  304 451
impairment losses reversed – 650
disposals  – 289
balance at the end of the period  2851 3308
in determining the recoverability of a trade receivable the group considers any change in the 
quality of the trade receivable from the date the credit was initially granted up to the reporting date 
the concentration of credit risk is limited due to the customer base being large and unrelated and 
being covered by credit insurance arrangements accordingly the directors believe that there is no 
further credit provision required in excess of the allowance for doubtful debts 
ageing of past due but not impaired receivables 
 
2010
£’000
2009
£’000 
between 0 and 59 days 15101 7768
between 60 and 89 days 265 –
 15366 7768
liquidity risk 
the group’s policy is to maintain flexibility with respect to its liquidity position by utilising  
shortterm cash deposits and where necessary shortterm bank borrowings for working capital 
and longerterm borrowings for capital expenditure requirements the £700 million three year 
revolving multicurrency agreement entered into in the period includes an overdraft facility of 
£150 million to fund shortterm working capital requirements the contractual maturities of drawn 
down borrowings as well as undrawn facilities are detailed in note 23 
capital risk management 
the group manages its capital to ensure that entities in the group will be able to continue as going 
concerns while maximising the return to stakeholders through the optimisation of the debt and 
equity balance the capital structure of the group consists of debt which includes the borrowings 
disclosed in note 23 cash and cash equivalents and equity attributable to equity holders of the 
parent comprising issued capital reserves and retained earnings as disclosed in the statement  
of changes in equity   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 95
28 share capital 
 
 number of shares
ordinary shares 
of 10p each
£’000
issued and fully paid 
at 3 august 2008 and 1 august 2009 103551005 10355
issued in the period 32132 3
at 31 july 2010 103583137 10358
all authorised and issued share capital is represented by equity shareholdings 
29 notes to the consolidated cash flow statement 
reconciliation of cash generated from operations 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
profitloss from continuing operations 9703 4382
loss from discontinued operations – 9547
adjustments for 
depreciation of property plant and equipment 18303 20760
loss on disposal of subsidiary – 10554
impairment losses 1171 2219
amortisation of intangible assets 756 923
profitloss on disposal of property plant and equipment 2374 368
deferred income credit 307 351
foreign exchange gains – 204
sharebased payment chargecredit 60 149
decrease in retirement benefit obligations 2000 16805
decreaseincrease in provisions 1585 2768
operating cash inflows before movements in working capital 23727 6154
decrease in inventories 757 260
decrease in receivables 5829 17594
increase in payables 6909 9799
cash generated from operations 37222 33807
analysis of net debt 
 
31 july 2009 
£’000 
cash flow 
£’000 
exchange 
movements
£’000 
30 july 2010
£’000
cash and cash equivalents 14016 3494 7 10515
bank loans 33016 20000 177 13193
 19000 16506 184 2678
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 shortterm 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  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 96 
29 notes to the consolidated cash flow statement continued 
cash flows from discontinued operations 
included within the cash flow statement are the following cash flows from discontinued operations 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
net cash generated from operating activities – 1691
net cash generated from investing activities – 2232
net increase in cash from discontinued activities – 3923
30 capital and other commitments 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
capital expenditure contracted but not provided 1820 6222
at 30 july 2010 the group had outstanding commitments for the future minimum lease payments 
under noncancellable operating leases as follows 
 2010 2009 
 
land and 
buildings 
£’000 
other 
£’000 
land and 
buildings
£’000 
other
£’000 
within one year 1503 1666 2226 800
between two and five years 3580 2490 4329 959
after five years 4025 10 4588 –
 9108 4166 11143 1759
31 sharebased payments 
the company operates a number of sharebased payment schemes for certain employees of the 
group ifrs 2 – sharebased payment has been applied to all sharebased rewards made after  
7 november 2002 that did not vest before 31 july 2004 as detailed below 
discretionary executive share option scheme ‘2001 scheme’ 
executive directors and certain members of senior management have been granted share  
options under the company’s discretionary share option schemes details of the 2001 scheme  
are included on pages 52 and 53 of the directors’ remuneration report a reconciliation of the 
movement in the number of share options is shown below 
2010 2009 
number of 
share options
weighted 
average 
exercise price  
£ 
number of 
share options 
weighted 
average 
exercise price
£ 
2001 scheme  
outstanding at the beginning of the period 1004400 263 1309900 300
granted during the period 2232000 066 ––
lapsed during the period 741600 273 305500 427
forfeited during the period –– ––
outstanding at the end of the period 2494800 084 1004400 263
exercisable at the end of the period –– ––
   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 97
the fair value of the options granted is measured using the binomial options pricing model  
the inputs to the model are 
weighted average midmarket share price £062 − £066
weighted average exercise price £062 − £066
expected life 57 years
expected volatility 3000
risk free rate 450
dividend yield 750
the group recognised a total charge of £60000 2009 – credit of £149000 relating to equity
settled sharebased payment transactions the exercise price of options outstanding at 30 july 
2010 ranges between 6200 pence and 23675 pence  
32 related party transactions 
transactions between the company and its subsidiaries which are related parties have  
been eliminated on consolidation and are not disclosed in this note no material related party 
transactions have been entered into during the year which might reasonably affect the decisions 
made by the users of these financial statements 
the directors and other executive officers of the company and their associates had no material 
transactions with the group during the year 
remuneration of key management personnel 
the remuneration of the directors and other executives who are key management personnel  
of the group is set out below in aggregate for each of the categories specified in international 
accounting standard 24 − related party disclosures 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
shortterm employee benefits 2254 2185
postemployment benefits 120 472
termination benefits 613 273
sharebased payment 60 149
 3047 2781
  notes to the consolidated financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 98 
33 reconciliation of ebitda 
the reconciliation of ebitda to the segment result referred to in the financial review is  
shown below 
 52 weeks to 30 july 2010 
 
 
media 
products 
£’000 
commercial 
products
£’000 
total
£’000
segmental result before nonunderlying items 13585 2428 16013
depreciation and amortisation 11645 7414 19059
ebitda continuing operations 25230 9842 35072
 
 52 weeks to 31 july 2009 
 
 
media 
products 
£’000 
commercial 
products
£’000 
total
£’000 
segmental result before nonunderlying items 12341 2191 10150
depreciation and amortisation 10921 9203 20124
ebitda continuing operations 23262 7012 30274
34 list of principal undertakings 
the principal trading subsidiaries of the company as at 30 july 2010 are shown below all are 
whollyowned subsidiaries with the exception of any marked † which are owned directly  
all are owned via whollyowned intermediate holding companies 
the following companies are incorporated and registered in england and wales 
 location
clays limited bungay
occam dm limited † chilcompton
st ives blackburn limited blackburn
st ives burnley limited burnley
st ives direct bradford limited bradfordleeds
st ives direct leeds limited leeds
st ives management services limited london
st ives peterborough limited peterborough
st ives plymouth limited plymouth
st ives roche limited roche
st ives westerham press limited edenbridge
service graphics limited † london and other uk sites
sp group limited † birminghamredditch
all the above subsidiaries other than occam dm ltd are engaged in the activities of printing and 
related services occam is engaged in the activity of database marketing services  independent auditors’ report to the members of st ives plc 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 99
we have audited the parent company financial statements of st ives plc for the 52 weeks ended  
30 july 2010 which comprise the parent company balance sheet and the related notes 1 to 16  
the financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law  
and united kingdom accounting standards united kingdom generally accepted accounting 
practice 
this report is made solely to the company’s members as a body in accordance with chapter 3  
of part 16 of the companies act 2006 our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state 
to the company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors’ report 
and for no other purpose to the fullest extent permitted by law we do not accept or assume 
responsibility to anyone other than the company and the company’s members as a body for our 
audit work for this report or for the opinions we have formed 
 respective responsibilities of directors and auditors 
as explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities statement the directors are responsible  
for the preparation of the parent company financial statements and for being satisfied that they  
give a true and fair view our responsibility is to audit the parent company financial statements  
in accordance with applicable law and international standards on auditing uk and ireland  
those standards require us to comply with the auditing practices board’s apb’s ethical 
standards for auditors 
 scope of the audit of the financial statements 
an audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements 
sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material 
misstatement whether caused by fraud or error this includes an assessment of whether the 
accounting policies are appropriate to the parent company’s circumstances and have been 
consistently applied and adequately disclosed the reasonableness of significant accounting 
estimates made by the directors and the overall presentation of the financial statements 
 opinion on financial statements 
in our opinion the parent company financial statements 
• give a true and fair view of the state of the parent company’s affairs as at 30 july 2010 
• have been properly prepared in accordance with united kingdom generally accepted 
accounting practice and 
• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the companies act 2006 
 opinion on matters prescribed by the companies act 2006 
in our opinion 
• the part of the directors’ remuneration report to be audited has been properly prepared in 
accordance with the companies act 2006 and 
• the information given in the directors’ report for the financial year for which the financial 
statements are prepared is consistent with the parent company financial statements 
  independent auditors’ report to the members of st ives plc continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 100 
 matters on which we are required to report by exception 
we have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the companies act 2006 
requires us to report to you if in our opinion 
• adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent company or returns adequate 
for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us or 
• the parent company financial statements and the part of the directors’ remuneration report to  
be audited are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns or 
• certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made or 
• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit 
 other matter 
we have reported separately on the group financial statements of st ives plc for the 52 weeks 
ended 30 july 2010 
 
peter o’donoghue senior statutory auditor 
for and on behalf of deloitte llp 
chartered accountants and statutory auditors  
london united kingdom 
5 october 2010 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
note 
an audit does not provide assurance on the maintenance and integrity of the website including 
controls used to achieve this and in particular on whether any changes may have occurred to  
the financial statements since first published  these matters are the responsibility of the directors  
but no control procedures can provide absolute assurance in this area legislation in the united 
kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements differs from 
legislation in other jurisdictions   company balance sheet 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 101
 
note 
30 july 2010
£’000 
31 july 2009
£’000 
fixed assets  – –
intangible assets 5 – 37
tangible assets 6 42960 39427
investments 7 95618 94069
  138578 133533
  
current assets  
debtors – amounts falling due within one year 8 4733 4945
debtors – amounts falling due after more than one year 8 3497 3890
cash at bank and in hand  – 16394
  8230 25229
creditors amounts falling due within one year 9 19428 46476
net current liabilities  11198 21247
total assets less current liabilities  127380 112286
  
creditors amounts falling due after more than one year 9 13193 –
provision for liabilities 11 166 209
net assets  114021 112077
  
capital and reserves  
share capital 12 10358 10355
share premium account 12 46706 46689
other reserves 13 556 466
profit and loss account 14 57513 55499
total equity  114021 112077
these financial statements were approved by the board of directors on 5 october 2010  
and signed on its behalf by 
 
 
patrick martell  matt armitage 
chief executive  finance director 
  notes to the company financial statements 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 102 
1 accounting policies 
the financial statements of the company have been prepared in accordance with applicable 
united kingdom accounting standards 
a accounting convention 
the financial statements of the company are prepared under the historical cost convention  
except for revaluation of certain land and buildings and financial instruments 
b accounting period 
the financial statements are prepared for the fifty two weeks ended 30 july 2010 ‘the financial 
year’ comparative figures are for the fifty two weeks ended 31 july 2009 
c tangible fixed assets 
depreciation is not provided on freehold land or assets in the course of construction on other 
assets it is provided on cost or revalued amounts in equal annual instalments over the estimated 
lives of the assets the annual rates of depreciation are as follows 
freehold buildings  2 – 4
long leases period of lease
plant and machinery  10 – 33
1

3

fixtures fittings and equipment  10 – 33
1

3

motor vehicles  20 – 25
as permitted by financial reporting standard 15 − tangible fixed assets ‘frs 15’ those freehold 
buildings valued at 31 july 1985 continue to be carried at that value subject to depreciation 
d investments 
investments are stated at historical cost less any provision for impairment 
e tax 
current tax including uk corporation tax and foreign tax is provided at amounts expected to be 
paid or recovered using the tax rates and laws that have been enacted or substantially enacted 
by the balance sheet date 
deferred tax is provided in full on timing differences which result in an obligation at the balance 
sheet date to pay more tax or a right to pay less tax at a future date at rates expected to apply 
when they crystallise based on current tax rates and law timing differences arise from the inclusion 
of items of income and expenditure in tax computations in periods different from those in which they 
are included in financial statements 
deferred tax is not provided on timing differences from the revaluation of fixed assets where there is 
no commitment to sell the asset or on unremitted earnings where there is no commitment to remit 
these earnings deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is regarded as more likely 
than not that they will be recovered deferred tax assets and liabilities are not discounted 
f provision for repairs 
as the company is committed under the terms of a lease to make repairs to leasehold premises 
provision is made for the estimated cost of repairs over the lease period   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 103
g foreign currencies 
where foreign currency borrowings have been used to finance or provide a hedge against equity 
investments in overseas subsidiaries exchange gains or losses on the borrowings have been offset 
in reserves to the extent that they do not exceed the associated exchange differences arising on 
the retranslation of net investments 
the transactions of the company denominated in foreign currencies are translated into sterling  
at the rate ruling at the date of the transaction amounts receivable and payable denominated  
in foreign currencies at the balance sheet date are translated at the rates ruling at that date  
these exchange differences are included in profit on ordinary activities before tax 
h sharebased payments 
the group makes equitysettled sharebased payments to certain employees which are measured 
at fair value at the date of grant the fair value determined at the grant date of the equitysettled 
sharebased payments is expensed on a straightline basis over the vesting period based on the 
company’s estimate of shares that will eventually vest the fair value of share options issued is 
measured using a binomial model the expected life used in the model has been adjusted based 
on management’s best estimate for the effects of nontransferability exercise restrictions and 
behavioural considerations 
i derivative financial instruments 
the company’s activities expose it primarily to the financial risks of changes in foreign currency 
exchange rates and interest rates the company uses derivative financial instruments to hedge  
its exposure to foreign exchange for the purchase of capital equipment denominated in foreign 
currencies and the sale of goods similarly denominated 
the use of financial derivatives is governed by the group’s policies approved by the board of 
directors which provide written principles on the use of financial derivatives consistent with the 
group’s risk management strategy the company does not hold or issue derivative financial 
instruments for speculative purposes 
changes in the fair value of derivative financial instruments that are designated and effective as 
cash flow hedges of forecast transactions are recognised directly in equity and the ineffective 
portion is recognised immediately in the profit and loss account if the cash flow hedge of a firm 
commitment or forecast transaction results in the recognition of an asset or liability then at the  
time the asset or liability is recognised the associated gains and losses on the derivative that had 
previously been recognised in equity are included in the initial measurement of the asset or liability 
for the hedges that do not result in the recognition of an asset or liability amounts deferred in 
equity are recognised in the profit and loss account in the same period in which the hedged item 
affects the net profit or loss 
hedge accounting is discontinued when the hedging instrument expires or is sold terminated or 
exercised or no longer qualifies for hedge accounting at that time any cumulative gain or loss  
on the hedging instrument recognised in equity is retained in equity until the forecast transaction 
occurs if a hedge transaction is no longer expected to occur the net cumulative gain or loss 
previously recognised in equity is included in the profit and loss account for the period 
derivatives embedded in other financial instruments or other host contracts are treated as separate 
derivatives when their risks and characteristics are not closely related to those of their host 
contracts and the host contracts are not carried at fair value with unrealised gains or losses 
reported in the profit and loss account 
those derivatives which are not designated as hedges are classified as held for trading and gains 
and losses on those instruments are recognised immediately in the profit and loss account  notes to the company financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 104 
1 accounting policies continued 
j pension costs 
the company operates a defined benefits pension scheme in which the majority of employees  
of the company participate and a defined contribution pension scheme the company accounts 
for the defined benefits pension scheme as if it were a defined contribution scheme under the 
provisions of frs 17 pension costs for the company’s defined contribution scheme are charged 
against profits as payable further details are set out in note 15 
k leases 
rental costs under operating leases are charged to the profit and loss account in equal annual 
amounts over the periods of leases 
l cash flows 
a statement of cash flows has not been prepared for the company as in accordance with financial 
reporting standard 1 revised ‘cash flow statements’ ‘frs 1’ cash flow information has been 
shown in the financial statements of the ultimate parent company 
2 profit from operations 
as permitted by section 408 of the companies act 2006 no profit and loss account of the 
company is included in these financial statements the profit for the financial period for the 
company was £44 million 2009 – loss £707 million 
3 auditors’ remuneration 
fees paid to the auditors in respect of their audit of the company were £62000 2009 – £62000 
4 employee information 
the average monthly number of employees including executive directors was 
 
2010
number 
2009
number 
sales  12 27
administration 43 46
 55 73
their aggregate remuneration comprised 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
wages and salaries 3801 5116
social security costs 346 496
other pension costs  108 137
sharebased payment  60 149
 4315 5600
   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 105
5 intangible fixed assets 
 
cost 
£’000 
accumulated
amortisation
£’000 
net book 
value
£’000 
goodwill  
at 31 july 2009 189 152 37
amortisation charge for the period – 37 37
at 30 july 2010 189 189 –
6 tangible fixed assets 
land and buildings 
 
freehold
£’000 
long leases 
£’000 
plant and 
machinery 
£’000 
fixtures 
fittings 
equipment 
and motor 
vehicles
£’000 
total
£’000 
cost or valuation   
at 1 august 2008 47379 5765 2799 2601 58544
additions –– 8 124132
transfers from subsidiaries – – – 69 69
transfers to subsidiaries – – – 184 184
disposals –– – 5555
at 31 july 2009 47379 5765 2807 2555 58506
additions –– 3 446449
transfers from subsidiaries 5800 429 – –6229
transfers to subsidiaries – – – 549 549
disposals 1695– – 1651860
at 30 july 2010 51484 6194 2810 2287 62775
accumulated depreciation and impairment   
at 1 august 2008 10420 2112 1632 1217 15381
charge 813 306 236 443 1798
impairment losses 2000 – – –2000
transfers from subsidiaries – – – 26 26
transfers to subsidiaries – – – 77 77
disposals –– – 4949
at 31 july 2009 13233 2418 1868 1560 19079
charge 690 308 188 273 1459
impairment losses – – – – –
transfers from subsidiaries 274 – – – 274
transfers to subsidiaries – – – 498 498
disposals 413– – 86499
reclassifications – – – – –
at 30 july 2010 13784 2726 2056 1249 19815
net book value   
at 30 july 2010 37700 3468 754 1038 42960
at 31 july 2009 34146 3347 939 995 39427
the company has freehold land with a book value of £6040000 2009 – £6040000 which has not 
been depreciated  
the net book value of the company’s land and buildings includes £204000 2009 – £210000 in 
respect of assets revalued on 31 july 1985 the historical written down cost of these assets would 
have been £84000 2009 – £88000  notes to the company financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 106 
7 investments held as fixed assets 
 
shares  
at cost 
£’000 
loans
£’000 
total
£’000 
investment in subsidiaries  
balance at 31 july 2009 80937 13132 94069
acquisitions 1919 979511714
additions 16 325341
loan repayments – 506 506
impairments 10000 –10000
balance at 30 july 2010 72872 22746 95618
all of the above are unlisted investments the principal trading subsidiaries are listed in note 35  
of the consolidated financial statements 
acquisition of shares at cost and loans relate to the acquisition of occam dm limited on  
1 june 2010 as disclosed in note 10 of the notes to the consolidated financial statements  
the investment in st ives direct limited was impaired in the period by £10 million due to  
a reduction in net assets in its subsidiary companies  
8 debtors amounts falling due within and after more than one year 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
within one year   
amounts owed by group undertakings 1218 3240
other debtors 1521 330
tax recoverable 858 826
prepayments and accrued income 1077 340
derivative assets 59 209
 4733 4945
after more than one year 
deferred tax asset 2 782
loans receivable 3495 3108
 3497 3890
loans receivable comprises a us dollardenominated promissory loan note of us55 million 
received as part of the consideration on the sale of the us operation in january 2009 together  
with interest rolled up into the loan the promissory loan note bears interest at 6 per annum 
deferred tax assets 
£’000 
balance at 31 july 2009  782
credited to profit and loss account 780
balance at 30 july 2010  2
the amounts of deferred tax provided in the financial statements are as follows 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
capital allowances in excess of depreciation 149 56
other timing differences 151 838
 2 782
   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 107
9 creditors amounts falling due within and after more than one year 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
within one year 
amounts owing to group undertakings 8552 4525
bank loans and overdrafts note 10 4910 33016
trade creditors 1602 3625
other creditors including tax and social security 2135 2511
accruals and deferred income 2229 2799
 19428 46476
 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
after more than one year 
bank loans and overdrafts note 10 13193 –
10 borrowings and finance lease obligations 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
within one year 
bank loans – 33016
bank overdrafts 4910 –
 4910 33016
 
 
2010
£’000 
2009
£’000 
after more than one year 
bank loans 13193 –
bank overdrafts and loans 
the £800 million facility in existence at the end of the prior period was cancelled on 10 september 
2009 and the company repaid loans drawn on this facility a new facility commenced on the same 
date and comprises a £700 million committed revolving multicurrency facility which terminates on 
31 october 2012 within the facility up to £150 million may be drawn as an overdraft interest on 
loan drawdowns is charged at libor plus a margin which varies between 225 and 275 
depending on the ratio of the consolidated net debt to ebitda excluding middle column items  
of the company and its subsidiary undertakings interest on overdraft drawdowns is charged at 
200 over uk base rate 
the company’s overdraft is guaranteed by certain united kingdom subsidiary undertakings  
and the company guarantees the loans and overdrafts of those united kingdom subsidiary 
undertakings at 30 july 2010 the aggregate liability for the company under this guarantee 
amounted to £83557000 2009 – £86674000 the aggregate value of the company’s loans  
and overdraft liabilities guaranteed by certain united kingdom subsidiaries amounted to 
£43746000 2008 – £33016000 
as at 30 july 2010 there was no loan or overdraft secured against the assets of the company  
2009 – £nil the directors consider that the carrying amount of the loans and overdrafts 
approximates their fair value  notes to the company financial statements continued 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 108 
11 provisions for liabilities and charges 
 
provision for 
repairs 
£’000 
provision for 
reorganisation
£’000 
total
£’000 
balance at 31 july 2009 116 93 209
charged to the profit and loss account 50 43 93
utilised in year – 136 136
balance at 30 july 2010 166 – 166
12 called up share capital and share premium account 
 
number of shares 
ordinary 
shares of 
10p each
£’000 
share 
premium 
account
£’000 
allotted and fully paid  
at 31 july 2009  103551005 10355 46689
issue of share capital  32132 3 17
at 30 july 2010 103583137 10358 46706
all authorised and issued share capital is represented by equity shareholdings the share capital 
issued in the period formed part of the consideration paid for the equity of occam dm limited 
13 other reserves 
capital 
redemption 
reserve
£’000 
share option 
reserve 
£’000 
esop  
reserve 
£’000 
hedging 
reserve 
£’000 
total
£’000 
balance at 31 july 2009 1238 – 1913 209 466
recognition of sharebased payments – 6 – – 60
gains on cash flow hedges   
transferred to underlying hedged items – – – 209 209
arising on forward currency contracts – – – 59 59
balance at 30 july 2010 1238 60 1913 59 556
14 profit and loss account 
£’000 
balance at 31 july 2009 55499
retained profit for the financial period 4332
dividends paid on equity shares 2318
balance at 30 july 2010 57513
details of the company’s share schemes are set out in note 31 of the consolidated  
financial statements   
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 109
15 retirement benefits  
the company participates in both the defined benefits and defined contribution schemes operated 
by st ives plc the defined benefits scheme is a multiemployer scheme the assets and liabilities  
of which are held in separate trusteeadministered funds the pension costs are based on pension 
costs across the group as a whole for the defined contribution scheme the profit and loss charge 
represents contributions payable 
the pension costs of the company are disclosed in note 4 
for the purpose of frs 17 the company is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and 
liabilities of the defined benefits scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis accordingly the 
company accounts for the defined benefits scheme as if it were a defined contribution scheme  
the defined benefits scheme was closed to new entrants with effect from 6 april 2002 and closed 
to future benefit accrual from 31 august 2008 there are no contributions to fund future defined 
benefit accrual after 31 august 2008 contributions of £2200000 were made in the period and the 
company expects to contribute £2200000 to the scheme in 2011 
the group is required to account for the defined benefits scheme under international accounting 
standard 19 − employee benefits ‘ias 19’ the ias 19 disclosures included in note 26 of the  
notes to the consolidated financial statements have been based on the results of the actuarial 
valuation of the defined benefits scheme as at 6 april 2007 adjusted to allow for the assumptions 
and actuarial methodology required by ias 19 and updated to 30 july 2010 by the scheme’s 
actuary these disclosures show that the scheme’s assets represented 869 of the scheme’s 
liabilities 2009 – 835 
16 capital commitments 
 
2010 
£’000 
2009
£’000 
capital expenditure contracted but not provided 1097 242
  five year record 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 110 
 
 52 weeks to 
30 july 2010
£’000 
 52 weeks to 
31 july 2009
£’000 
 52 weeks to  
1 august 2008 
restated  
£’000 
 53 weeks to 
3 august 2007 
restated
£’000 
52 weeks to 
28 july 2006
£’000 
revenue  
media products 147513  154492  173153   191498  186253 
commercial products 214743  232290  218047   174266  131202 
usa  –  –  –   59266  65055 
  362256  386782  391200   425030  382510 
 
profitloss from operations before  
nonunderlying items  
media products  13585  12341  25718   26334  23904 
commercial products  2428 2191 7235   6500  2844 
usa  –  –  –   1495  241
head office  –  –  –   –  33
  16013  10150  32953   34329  26474 
nonunderlying items  6310 14532 1126   2765 1245 
 
profitloss from operations  9703 4382 34079   31564  27719 
investment income  13267  12857  11051   10171  9221 
finance costs  14866 15716 14508 14179 12758
profitloss before taxation  8104 7241 30622   27556  24182 
income tax expense  366 916  16096 7157 8104
profitloss on ordinary activities  
after taxation  7738 6325 14526   20399  16078 
profitloss on discontinued operations  –  8233 1714  14084 1264
profitloss for the period  7738 14558 16240   6315  14814 
  
earnings per share  
basic 751p 614p 1410p 613p 1438p
continuing before nonunderlying items 965p 494p 1957p 2025p 1509p
 
balance sheet  
property plant and equipment  107438  122178  141581   147006  160909 
goodwill  54383  46274  54679   54679  54135 
other intangible assets  4683  1215  1753   1394  1089 
other noncurrent assets  5052  8008  2517   5123  12197 
assets held for sale  2140  1282  6650   3345  – 
other current assets  89402  98218  116811   100121  90813 
liabilities held for sale   –  –  1142 –  – 
other current liabilities  84606 113717 79015 67719 89212
noncurrent liabilities  48606 41390 88964 79422 62030
net assets  129886  122068  154870   164527  167901 
revenue and profitloss from operations before nonunderlying items is shown by business 
segment for the years ended 28 july 2006 and 3 august 2007 the us segment is included within 
continuing operations the five year record is not audited 
 nonunderlying items comprise restructuring charges provision releases operation results of noncontinuing operations amortisation of 
acquired intangibles and oneoff items  financial calendar 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 111
financial year ended 31 july 2009  
record date for final dividend 6 november 2009 
annual general meeting 30 november 2009 
payment date for final dividend of 05p per ordinary share  4 december 2009  
  
financial year ended 30 july 2010  
half year end 29 january 2010 
announcement of half year results 9 march 2010 
record date for interim dividend 19 march 2010 
payment date for interim dividend of 175p per ordinary share 1 april 2010 
financial year end 30 july 2010 
announcement of full year results 5 october 2010 
annual general meeting 30 november 2010 
record date for proposed final dividend 3 december 2010 
payment date for proposed final dividend of 175p per ordinary share  23 december 2010 
  
financial year ended 29 july 2011  
half year end 28 january 2011 
announcement of half year results march 2011 
financial year end 29 july 2011 
 if approved by shareholders at the 2010 annual general meeting the proposed final dividend will be paid on 23 december 2010 
  shareholder information 
st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010 112 
 corporate information 
further information about the group can be found on our website wwwstivescouk 
this year’s annual report and accounts as well as copies of past years’ annual reports and 
accounts half year and interim management statements and shareholder circulars are available  
to view and download from our investor centre regulatory announcements and press releases 
made during the year and in past years are also available to view in the media centre section of  
our investor centre 
should you wish to receive further copies of the annual report and accounts or a copy of  
our environmental report please contact the company secretary st ives plc st ives house 
lavington street london se1 0nx 
 shares 
st ives plc ordinary shares of 10 pence each are listed on the london stock exchange and trade 
under the symbol siv our international securities identification number isin is gb0007689002 
and our stock exchange daily official list sedol number is 768900  
share price information and our latest regulatory announcements can be obtained from the stock 
exchange website wwwlondonstockexchangecom 
 shareholding enquiries 
st ives plc’s register is maintained by capita registrars who are able to deal with shareholders’ 
queries including in respect of any of the following matters 
• transfer of shares 
• change of name or address 
• registering the death of a shareholder 
• lost share certificates 
• lost or out of date dividend warrants 
• the payment of dividends directly into a bank or building society account 
their contact details are st ives plc shareholder services capita registrars northern house 
woodsome park fenay bridge huddersfield west yorkshire hd8 0ga 
capita’s shareholder helpline telephone number is 0871 664 0300 calls cost 10 pence per minute  
plus network extras if you are calling from overseas please telephone  44 208 639 3399  
lines are open from 830 am to 530 pm monday to friday 
alternatively you can email your query to our registrars at ssdcapitaregistarscom although  
for legal reasons they may subsequently require you to confirm any instruction in writing  
 our principal advisers 
stockbrokers 
numis securities limited the london stock exchange building 10 paternoster square  
london ec4m 7lt 
financial advisers 
nm rothschild  sons limited new court st swithin’s lane london ec4p 4du 
bankers 
hsbc bank plc 76 edgware road london w2 2eq 
the royal bank of scotland plc po box 2 ag 63 piccadilly london w1a 2ag 
solicitors 
herbert smith llp exchange house primrose street london ec2a 2hs  st ives plc 
registered in england  wales no 1552113 
registered office 
st ives house 
lavington street 
london se1 0nx
printed on hello silk and revive pure white  
uncoated paper 
hello silk is made from 100 virgin wood fibre from 
wellmanaged forests independently certified according 
to the rules of the forest stewardship council fsc 
revive pure white uncoated is made from 100  
deinked postconsumer waste 
both papers are manufactured at a mill that is certified  
to iso14001 and emas environmental standards  
the mill uses pulps that are totally chlorine free tcf 
and some pulp is bleached using an elemental  
chlorine free ecf process the inks used are all 
vegetablebased
printed at st ives westerham press ltd iso14001  
fsc certified and carbonneutral®
designed by black sun plc
thank you to all our valued customers for the use of 
photographs in this document that represent the 
products we produce  st ives plc 
  st ives house 
lavington street 
london se 1 0nx
  t elephone  020 7928 8844 
fax  020 7902 6436
 wwwstivescouk


Summary:
 6 st ives plc annual report and accounts 2010

progress as the group continues to 
restructure its activities and implement 
plans to reposition the business


and improve the work mix across the 
group the reduction in net debt to  

the success of the actions taken and 
 

investment in our existing businesses
t rading conditions during the year 
continued to be very challenging and 
whilst we are yet to see any easing of 

are signs that volumes are stabilising  
 
in sales of 3 in the second half compares 
favourably to the 10 fall recorded in  
the first half underlying group sales 
revenue of £361 9 million was 6 lower 
compared to the previous year but  

made significant progress in improving 
underlying operating profits to £160 million 

work mix and the actions taken to 
 
we are pleased to have further 
strengthened the balance sheet
chief executive’s review
patrick martell