the morgan crucible company plc
annual report 2008
 ad va n c e d
materials
 for t e c h n ic a l ly      
 c o m plex
 a ppl ic a t ions governance
financial statements
the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review
what we do
contents
morgan crucible is a world 
leader in advanced materials
our highly skilled dynamic 
people provide high 
technology solutions for 
specialised applications 
in diverse markets around 
the world
01 operational and ﬁnancial highlights
02 overview 
14 chairman’ s statement
16 chief executive ofﬁcer’ s review
19 key performance indicators 
20 review of operations 
32 corporate responsibility
40 financial review
43 risk management 
45 key contractual relationships
45 cautionary statement
46 directors and executive committee
48 directors’ report
52 corporate governance
58 statement of directors’ responsibilities 
59 remuneration report
68 shareholder information 
69 independent auditors’ report
70 consolidated income statement
71 consolidated balance sheet
72 consolidated statement of cash ﬂows
73 consolidated statement of recognised
income and expense
74 notes to the consolidated 
ﬁnancial statements
115 company balance sheet
116 notes to the company balance sheet
124 group statistical information
overview
business review
governance
financial statements governance
financial statements
the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 01
operational and 
ﬁnancial highlights
revenue 
continuing businesses £m 
0000 
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
8350
6932
6778
6098
5816
highlights 
   revenue for the full year grew to £8350 million up 205 on the previous year
   group underlying operating proﬁt margin 
improved to 118 compared to 114 
for the full year 2007
   underlying eps improved by 188 to 234 pence from 197 pence
   the technical ceramics businesses acquired from the carpenter t echnology corporation 
in march 2008 have performed well with 
revenues and proﬁts ahead of expectations
 operating proﬁt before amortisation of intangible assets
underlying operating proﬁt margin
continuing businesses 
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
118
114
70
38
20 governance
financial statements
the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 02
clear positioning
our vision
our aim
our strategic priorities
 focus on higher growth higher margin 
noneconomically cyclical markets
 be high valueadded to our customers
 be number one or number two in our 
chosen market segments
 have a culture of operational excellence 
and cost efﬁciency
 find keep and develop the right people
     our vision is to be one of the world’ s very best advanced materials companies
      our aim is to create longterm superior shareholder value governance
financial statements
the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 03
t echnical ceramics
division
2 1 22m
divisional revenue
£
and structure
divisional ebita
continuing businesses £m 
divisional ebita
continuing businesses £m 
2008 2007 2006
456
375
286
divisional ebita
continuing businesses £m 
carbon
division
239 9m
divisional revenue
£
the carbon division is a global provider 
of advanced materials technology with 
extensive expertise in the processing 
and applications of carbon graphite 
silicon carbide oxide ceramics and 
other related materials working at the 
forefront of materials technology carbon 
develops valueadded customer solutions 
through engineering innovation and 
an understanding of industryspeciﬁc 
needs opportunities and challenges 
core productsapplications
electrical brushes seals and bearings protective ballistic armour ultra high temperature insulation markets 
transportation industrial equipment fluid handling defence and aerospace renewable energy insulating ceramics 
division
the insulating ceramics division designs 
manufactures and installs a wide variety 
of engineered solutions from its range 
of world renowned advanced insulation 
and thermal management products 
these solutions help customers to protect 
equipment and personnel and also to 
reduce dramatically energy consumption 
in their processes and in many applications 
also help reduce emissions to the 
environment 
core productsapplications
thermal management solutions insulating ﬁbres insulating ﬁre bricks crucibles and furnaces markets 
petrochemical power generation ceramics and glass metals transportation 3829m
divisional revenue
£
the technical ceramics division utilises 
advanced ceramic glass precious metals 
piezoelectric and dielectric materials combined 
with innovative design and applications 
engineering to provide an extensive range 
of ceramic components assemblies and 
related products for niche technological 
applications in selected markets in many 
applications the technology provided by 
technical ceramics deﬁnes the performance 
of the customer’s end product 
core productsapplications
electron tube components and assemblies ceramic cores for turbine blades piezoelectric ceramic actuators laser components markets 
aerospace electronics medical power generation and distribution security and defence the morgan crucible company plc 
2008 2007 2006
316
200
17 2
2008 2007 2006
363
352
341
 divisional ebita is deﬁned as segment operating proﬁt before restructuring costs other oneoff items and amortisation of intangible assets governance
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the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 04
a global business
 operating proﬁt before amortisation of intangible assets
operations by geography
americas
£553m
underlying operating proﬁt 
2008 
morgan crucible has operations 
in 40 countries and employs 
over 10000 people worldwide

245
group underlying operating proﬁt 
£m 
2008 2007
982
789
563 governance
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the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 05
growing profits 
worldwide 
em ea
europe middle east and africa
asia
including australia and new zealand
£224m
underlying operating proﬁt 
2008
£205m
underlying operating proﬁt 
2008 
228
209 governance
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the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 06
lead i ng edge
sol utions for 
a demand i ng
world
new global research  
and development centre
thermal ceramics investing in technology
improved thermal and energy efﬁciency is a key global imperative 
for the 21st century as part of the insulating ceramics division the 
thermal ceramics business is well placed to help address this need 
with its differentiated advanced technology insulation solutions 
including the biosoluble superwool™ range of materials thermal 
ceramics is building on its success in high temperature biosoluble 
insulating ﬁbre having invested in 2008 in a new global rd centre 
at bromborough uk the new rd centre houses pilot equipment 
dedicated to developing and trialling the next generation of materials  governance
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the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 07
efﬁciency in the world’s  
power stations
carbon generations of world leading technology
world demand for electricity is increasing and the carbon brushes 
designed and manufactured by the carbon division provide the 
key technology which allows electricity to be transferred from 
a high rotational speed modern generator into the electricity 
distribution grid 
to perform this task the carbon division has developed unique 
graphite materials technology for excitation slip rings with good 
life ﬁlm forming and electrical current sharing properties it is this 
technology that has enabled the carbon division to maintain its 
position as a longterm world leader approved and used by original 
equipment manufacturers around the world
innovation improves disk drive 
storage capacity
technical ceramics growth through innovation
total demand for data storage has been growing by over 50 
annually in recent years and high capacity storage is now required 
in ever more devices including hdtv recorders and increasingly 
powerful pcs increasing the physical size of such devices is not 
an option and so the technical ceramics division has been working 
with major players in the ﬁeld to increase disk drive capacity fitting 
more data onto the same size of disk requires increasingly accurate 
control of the readwrite head and technical ceramics’ piezoelectric 
actuator plates enable the head to be positioned with extraordinary 
accuracy and vibration control this leading edge technology 
increases disk drive capacity by 1520 opening up opportunities 
for morgan and its customers governance
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the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 08
superwool 607 diesel particulate 
ﬁlters production
thermal ceramics longterm partnerships
thermal ceramics part of the insulating ceramics division has 
a comprehensive technical and supply agreement with the leading 
manufacturer of diesel particulate ﬁlters demand for these ﬁlters 
is being driven by increased use of diesel engines and increasingly 
stringent global vehicle emission standards advanced technology 
insulation is used to enable the ﬁlter to reach the high temperatures 
necessary for ‘self cleansing’ working with its customer thermal 
ceramics achieved a technological breakthrough which enables 
biosoluble superwool 607ht™ to be used delivering beneﬁts 
to our customer in manufacture in service and at endoflife 
recuperative furnace
molten metal systems addressing customer needs
traditional brick lined gasﬁred metalmelting furnaces are energy 
hungry much of the energy goes into heating the brick lining 
or goes up the stack as a result an aluminium melting furnace 
may only be 18 efﬁcient the mkv ‘r’ furnace from morgan 
molten metal systems part of the insulating ceramics division 
uses recuperative burner systems to recycle waste heat from the 
furnace stack to preheat the combustion air entering the burner 
this is combined with the most efﬁcient low thermal mass materials 
for the furnace lining so the mkv ’r‘ furnace can be more than 
twice as efﬁcient as a traditional one – a real breakthrough in 
addition advanced burner technology means lower nox emissions 
enabling the furnace to be operated both safely and with minimum 
environmental impact
strong 
pa rtnersh ips and 
g round breaking
tech nology 40
40 years of collaboration 
and innovation
technical ceramics joint technology development
during 2008 technical ceramics and leading pump manufacturer 
grundfos celebrated 40 years of working together the two 
companies have collaborated on multiple innovations over the 
years including the development of a ceramic solution intrinsic 
to the performance of the circulator pumps to be found in most 
modern central heating systems millions of these pumps are 
made annually so it was appropriate that the 40 year celebration 
also included the formal opening of the new volume precision 
ceramics department at technical ceramics’ stourport uk site 
and the award by grundfos of a new multimillion euro contract 
preben jakobsen grundfos technical manager said 
“the reliability and durability of the components that 
technical ceramics supplies are absolutely critical to us 
without the reassurance they offer we would not be 
able to stand by our lifetime and performance guarantees 
on which our reputation in the industry relies”
governance
financial statements
the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 09
medical diagnostic imaging 
demands technical solution
technical ceramics global technology solution
technical ceramics works closely with its customers in the 
healthcare sector helping to push forward the frontiers of material 
technology to produce ceramic based components which are critical 
to the performance of the latest high deﬁnition medical diagnostics 
and imaging equipment for example ceramics are increasingly 
used in the vacuum tubes at the heart of the latest xray and 
cat scanning machines replacing traditional glass components 
the high purity engineered components supplied by technical 
ceramics have speciﬁc electrical and physical properties which help 
equipment manufacturers to produce machines which offer longer 
life higher power and better images governance
financial statements
the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 10
en hanci ng 
global 
sustainability
getting the power from 
the wind into the grid
demand for clean sustainable co 2 free energy has never been 
greater and carbon is well placed to help original equipment 
makers to develop this growth market the division supplies the 
key enabling technologies for wind power generation – for both 
turbines and the generators within long life and reliability are 
essential for all the key components in a wind turbine many 
are installed in harsh and corrosive marine and high altitude 
environments where access is difﬁcult and repeated maintenance 
is not an easy option 
carbon helping make a difference governance
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the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 11
a bright future for solar energy
groupwide cooperating to add value
the earth receives an impressive 10000 times more energy from 
the sun than mankind consumes every year the three divisions 
of morgan crucible are involved in the challenge to harness this 
solar energy for our everyday use
technical ceramics is working with leading companies who are 
developing photovoltaic pvcell power utilising materials science 
and applications engineering their contribution takes the form 
of optimised products for both the pvcell manufacturing process 
and the ﬁnished panels 
the carbon division is leveraging its world leading capability in 
high temperature insulation for solar silicon manufacturers around 
the globe helping to increase efﬁciency and making solar energy 
a more viable source of longterm sustainable electrical power 
thermal ceramics’ advanced insulation systems are used in 
the emerging ‘concentrated solar power’ sector where arrays 
of tracking reﬂectors are used to focus solar energy to create a 
high temperature in a deﬁned space this includes ‘power tower’ 
applications where the concentrated sunlight melts salt and the 
heat energy is then used to generate electricity and also ’sterling 
engine’ applications whereby heat energy is directly converted 
into mechanical power which is used to generate electricity
the solar energy market is set for a bright future and morgan 
is well positioned to support its ongoing growth and success
heat recovery steam 
generators boost efﬁciency
thermal ceramics reducing co
2
 emissions per unit of electricity
the most efﬁcient way of converting fossil fuel into electricity is 
in a combined cycle power station which combines a gas turbine 
with a heat recovery steam generator hrsg which recovers 
exhaust heat from the gas turbine to make steam to power 
a second generator the hrsg boosts efﬁciency and thermal 
efﬁciency is key to achieving this thermal ceramics has a leading 
position in supplying the advanced insulation solutions required 
the market is set to see further growth as gasiﬁcation technology 
is used to convert coal and heavy crude oil into ‘syngas’ which 
can then be used in a gas turbine rather than being limited to 
use in a traditional coal or oil ﬁred power station governance
financial statements
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overview
business review 12
finding the right people 
worldwide
thermal ceramics global recruitment
thermal ceramics is using its global presence to help identify 
attract and retain the right people worldwide for example the 
european and asian operations are working with chinese mba 
students attending the conservatoire national des arts et métiers 
cnam in paris whilst the students are in europe they have the 
opportunity to spend time with thermal’s european operations 
carrying out special projects which support the business and their 
studies whilst also learning about thermal ceramics’ advanced 
insulation technologies on completion of their studies they have 
the opportunity to join the thermal ceramics team of over 800 
employees in china bringing worldclass business technical and 
language skills recent participants came from backgrounds in 
ﬁnance automation biotechnology and engineering 
d eve l o p i n g  
an d re tainin g
the rig ht people governance
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business review 13
graduate recruitment 
programme 
t echnical ceramics the next generation
to help ensure technical ceramics continues to attract the best 
talent the division initiated a graduate recruitment programme 
at the end of 2007 the programme targets graduates in both 
north america and europe and emphasises the opportunity to
join a global business and to work with cutting edge materials 
technology following a series of assessment days ﬁve graduates 
and postgraduates are selected from a variety of disciplines 
including mechanical systems materials and biomaterials 
ceramics and chemical engineering
ken ash hr manager technical ceramics stourport said 
“this program has enabled us to identify a really high quality 
batch of new engineers in the coming years they will help 
sustain the technical expertise in technical ceramics while 
bringing fresh ideas into the business”
developing our people to 
achieve their full potential
groupwide elearning to share the vision
our aim is to enable our people to achieve their full potential by 
developing the depth and breadth of their skills and capabilities 
that will help to achieve our vision of being one of the world’s 
very best advanced materials companies 
in august 2008 we launched our ﬁrst worldwide elearning 
programme ‘business english’ with businesses around the globe 
morgan crucible’s elearning programmes extend the range and 
power of training and development that we can offer our people 
the ‘business english’ programme will help and encourage our 
people to communicate with greater effect across borders countries 
and continents and improve the overall performance of our business governance
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the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 14
chairman’s statement
i am delighted to report 
another successful year 
for morgan crucible our 
performance demonstrates 
the success of our focused 
strategy to be a worldleading 
advanced materials company
tim stevenson
chairman overview
i am delighted to report that 2008 was 
another successful year for morgan crucible 
despite an economic environment which 
has proved to be increasingly difﬁcult 
this performance clearly demonstrates 
the successful implementation of our vision 
to be a worldleading advanced materials 
company the ﬁve strategic priorities 
highlighted in the group ceo’s report 
which underpin this vision are being 
rigorously implemented across our three 
divisions with demonstrable success the 
formula is one which is transforming the 
nature of morgan’s business the board 
believes that this will stand your company 
in good stead for the difﬁcult economic 
circumstances that surely lie ahead of us 
in 2009 and potentially beyond 
the group beneﬁts from many years of 
investment in customerfocused research 
and development and in global manufacturing 
capability from this customercentric 
approach we have continued to build 
on our strong technological and market 
positions selected examples are included 
in the case studies on the preceding pages 
governance
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the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
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business review 15
acquisitions 
both of the acquisitions we announced 
in 2007 – the technical ceramics businesses 
of carpenter technology corporation 
and our initial 49 stake in np aerospace – 
performed extremely well in 2008 ahead 
of our expectations at the point of purchase 
the complex task of integrating the former 
carpenter businesses into our technical 
ceramics division has been carried out with 
great commitment and efﬁciency together 
these two acquisitions represent an 
important part of the strategy of moving 
morgan into higher growth higher margin 
and less economically cyclical markets i am 
also delighted to report that since the year 
end we have increased our stake in np 
aerospace to 60 this additional stake will 
help further accelerate plans to realise the full 
potential of the combined np aerospace and 
morgan crucible businesses in the armour 
systems market 
board 
our nonexecutive directors play a vital role 
in the governance of the company and a 
key measure of the success of the board is 
its ability to add real value to the work of 
the executive team as i announced in my 
statement last year joe machale retired 
from the board following the agm held 
on 18 april 2008 joe joined the board in 
2003 and made an invaluable contribution 
to the strategic development of the group 
both as chairman of the audit committee 
and senior independent director following 
joe’s retirement andrew given became 
chairman of the audit committee and 
martin flower was appointed as senior 
independent director 
this year’s appraisal of the effectiveness of 
the board reported on later in this annual 
report demonstrated that it is working 
effectively of particular importance is the 
effort to ensure that a number of our 
board meetings each year involve visits to 
operations in different parts of the world 
giving the board both real insight into 
the business and exposure to senior 
management 
dividend
the board has proposed a ﬁnal dividend 
of 45 pence per ordinary share this brings 
the total dividend for the year to 70 pence 
2007 675 pence and reﬂects the board’s 
conﬁdence in the ﬁnancial health of 
morgan crucible
people 
in my second year as chairman i have 
continued the process of visiting morgan 
sites and meeting as many of our people 
as i can again i have been impressed by the 
consistent quality of our senior middle and 
junior management their understanding 
of our businesses and the markets in which 
they operate and their commitment to the 
success of the group in particular we are 
proud to have many employees who have 
worked for the business for many years – 
in 2008 we celebrated 20 further staff 
achieving 40 years of service with morgan 
crucible we make particular effort to 
ensure the crossfertilisation of experience 
across and within divisions and to keep 
senior employees abreast of developments 
in the business as a whole 
i would like to extend my personal thanks 
to all of the group’s employees for their 
dedication and energy in driving the business 
forward in 2008 such that we enter 2009 
having made further signiﬁcant progress 
towards our vision of being one of the world’ s 
very best advanced materials companies with 
the aim of creating longterm superior 
shareholder value 
tim stevenson
chairman
 based on proﬁt after tax and minority interest before 
amortisation of intangible assets
underlying earnings per share
pence 
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
234
197
133
186
217 governance
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overview
business review 16
chief executive 
ofﬁcer’s review
given the increasingly 
challenging market 
environment in 2008 
it is pleasing to report that 
all three divisions delivered 
yearonyear increases in 
sales and operating proﬁts 
mark robertshaw
chief executive ofﬁcer governance
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the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 17
strategic priorities
morgan‘s vision is to be one of 
the world’s very best advanced 
materials companies
our aim is to create longterm 
superior shareholder value
to help implement this vision and 
achieve our aim we have set ﬁve 
strategic priorities we use these to 
ﬁlter new investment opportunities 
to screen our businesses for ﬁt with 
the existing group and to identify 
areas requiring strategic attention 
and action
strategy
 t o be number one 
or number two 
in our chosen 
market segments
 t o be high 
valueadded to 
our customers 
t o focus on 
higher growth 
higher margin 
noneconomically 
cyclical markets
t o have a culture 
of operational 
excellence and 
cost efﬁciency
t o ﬁnd keep 
and develop 
the right people
underlying operating proﬁt margin
continuing businesses 
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
118
114
70
38
20
underlying operating proﬁt
continuing businesses £m
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
982
789
564
258
72
 operating proﬁt before amortisation of intangible assets governance
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the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 18
group results
i am pleased to report that morgan crucible 
has delivered another healthy set of ﬁnancial 
results in 2008 against the backdrop of an 
increasingly difﬁcult economic environment 
group revenues were up 205 on last
year at £8350 million for the ﬁrst time 
in a number of years currency translation 
effects have actually been in our favour on 
the income statement with our reported 
ﬁnancials beneﬁting from the strength of 
the us dollar and the euro against sterling 
we also saw nine months of good ﬁnancial 
contribution from the advanced ceramics 
businesses acquired from carpenter 
technology corporation at the end 
of march
overall organic sales growth that is to say 
excluding the additional revenue from these 
acquired businesses was a very respectable 
4 on a constant currency basis
this revenue growth allied with strong 
ongoing operational management of the 
cost base helped the group to show 
continued improvement in proﬁt margins 
despite the headwinds caused by inﬂationary 
pressures in raw material and energy costs 
underlying operating proﬁt margins for the 
year were a healthy 118 compared to 
114 in 2007 our goal as a group remains 
midteen operating proﬁt margins in good 
times and double digit in bad times
pretax proﬁt for the group was £828 million 
up 155 on the prior year underlying 
earnings per share at 234 pence compared 
to 197 pence last year also showed double 
digit levels of year on year growth
divisional highlights
given the increasingly challenging market 
environment in 2008 it is pleasing to report 
that all three divisions delivered yearonyear 
increases in sales and operating proﬁts
progress was particularly encouraging in the 
insulating ceramics division – the group’s 
largest division by revenue – which saw 
revenues rise 182 from £3240 million 
to £3829 million 61 on a constant 
currency basis this was driven in particular 
by large project orders into the chemical 
john brings a wealth of experience to the 
role on the back of his 18 years service with 
morgan crucible during which time he has 
lived and worked across the globe for the 
group in a range of different roles and 
businesses john replaces phil wright who 
after 16 years of loyal and committed service 
to morgan crucible retired from the group 
at the end of the year phil has successfully 
brought about signiﬁcant changes to the 
manufacturing footprint of the molten metal 
systems business leaving it well positioned 
for the future i would like to thank phil 
personally for all of his contributions over 
the years
looking forward
unprecedented volatility in the global 
economy clearly makes it much more 
difﬁcult than usual to forecast the demand 
outlook accurately however our ongoing 
strategy of moving towards less economically 
cyclical markets has successfully reduced 
the group’s exposure to some of the sectors 
which came under particular pressure in 
the latter half of 2008 such as automotive 
consumer goods and semiconductors 
demand in markets such as defence and 
medical remained strong which to date has 
offset the softening we have seen in some 
sectors which are more aligned with the 
general industrial cycle in those markets 
where we have seen weakening demand 
we have taken decisive actions to reduce 
the cost base going forward we remain 
watchful and prepared to respond 
proactively to any other signs of slowdowns 
in our end markets as they emerge 
the general economic environment is 
clearly more difﬁcult now than it has been 
for many years but i remain conﬁdent that 
morgan crucible is a higher quality more 
resilient business than in the past as we 
look to the future we are committed to 
demonstrating this quality and resilience 
over the next 12 months
mark robertshaw 
chief executive ofﬁcer
and petroleum markets along with robust 
demand in emerging market economies 
the focus on operational excellence in 
the division through the world class 
manufacturing wcm programme yielded 
good improvements in our manufacturing 
processes our commitment to remaining 
at the forefront of world technical leadership 
in the insulating ceramics ﬁeld was 
underpinned by the opening of a new 
global rd centre in bromborough uk
the technical ceramics division also had 
an excellent year with revenues up from 
£1526 million in 2007 to £2122 million 
in 2008 representing 33 growth on 
a constant currency basis and excluding 
acquisitions there was good progress in 
the underlying business particularly in 
medical market applications with divisional 
performance also bolstered by the new 
revenue and earnings stream from the 
carpenter businesses i am pleased to 
report that these newly acquired businesses 
– which predominantly serve the aerospace 
and power generation markets – have 
delivered an excellent set of results in 
their ﬁrst nine months with the group
the carbon division also reported 
year on year growth in revenues and 
operating proﬁts revenues increased 
from £2166 million to £2399 million 
representing 13 growth on a constant 
currency basis this revenue progress was 
achieved despite delays to the us military 
procurement programme for the next 
generation of us body armour xsapi 
encouragingly the np aerospace business in 
which we acquired a 49 equity stake last 
year ﬁnished a very successful 2008 with a 
strong order book for 2009 having secured 
additional contracts from the uk military for 
vehicle armouring applications 
management
a major priority for me as group chief 
executive remains to continue to develop 
and enhance the senior management team 
of morgan crucible with the next generation 
of home grown talent i am therefore 
delighted to report that john maxwell 
was appointed ceo of the molten metal 
systems business unit formerly known as 
the crucibles business on 1 october 2008 
delivering substantial 
progress governance
financial statements
the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 19
key performance 
indicators
to support the group’s strategy and to 
monitor performance the board of directors 
and the executive committee uses a number 
of ﬁnancial and nonﬁnancial key performance 
indicators kpis these kpis are selected as 
being important to the success of the group 
in delivering its strategic objectives progress 
is assessed by comparison with the group’s 
strategy its budget for the year and historic 
performance at a business level a range of 
further benchmarks and other kpis are also 
used as part of the divisional planning and 
performance review processes in order to 
measure the underlying performance of 
the business management further analyse 
the headline kpis to exclude the impact 
of acquisitions and foreign exchange 
as morgan’s businesses grow and evolve 
we will review and update the list of kpis 
selected to ensure they remain important 
to the success of the group
financial and nonﬁnancial performance is 
reviewed in more detail in the divisional 
financial and corporate responsibility sections 
of this business review 
 earnings before interest tax and amortisation of intangible assets
 based on proﬁt after tax and minority interest before amortisation of intangible assets


Summary:
 governance
financial statements
the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 16
chief executive 
ofﬁcer’s review
given the increasingly 
challenging market 
environment in 2008 
it is pleasing to report that 
all three divisions delivered 
yearonyear increases in 
sales and operating proﬁts 
mark robertshaw
chief executive ofﬁcer governance
financial statements
the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 17
strategic priorities
morgan‘s vision is to be one of 
the world’s very best advanced 
materials companies
our aim is to create longterm 
superior shareholder value
to help implement this vision and 
achieve our aim we have set ﬁve 
strategic priorities we use these to 
ﬁlter new investment opportunities 
to screen our businesses for ﬁt with 
the existing group and to identify 
areas requiring strategic attention 
and action
strategy
 t o be number one 
or number two 
in our chosen 
market segments
 t o be high 
valueadded to 
our customers 
t o focus on 
higher growth 
higher margin 
noneconomically 
cyclical markets
t o have a culture 
of operational 
excellence and 
cost efﬁciency
t o ﬁnd keep 
and develop 
the right people
underlying operating proﬁt margin
continuing businesses 
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
118
114
70
38
20
underlying operating proﬁt
continuing businesses £m
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
982
789
564
258
72
 operating proﬁt before amortisation of intangible assets governance
financial statements
the morgan crucible company plc annual report 2008
overview
business review 18
group results
i am pleased to report that morgan crucible 
has delivered another healthy set of ﬁnancial 
results in 2008 against the backdrop of an 
increasingly difﬁcult economic environment 
group revenues were up 205 on last
year at £8350 million for the ﬁrst time 
in a number of years currency translation 
effects have actually been in our favour on 
the income statement with our reported 
ﬁnancials beneﬁting from the strength of 
the us dollar and the euro against sterling 
we also saw nine months of good ﬁnancial 
contribution from the advanced ceramics 
businesses acquired from carpenter 
technology corporation at the end 
of march
overall organic sales growth that is to say 
excluding the additional revenue from these 
acquired businesses was a very respectable 
4 on a constant currency basis
this revenue growth allied with strong 
ongoing operational management of the 
cost base helped the group to show 
continued improvement in proﬁt margins 
despite the headwinds caused by inﬂationary 
pressures in raw material and energy costs 
underlying operating proﬁt margins for the 
year were a healthy 118 compared to 
114 in 2007 our goal as a group remains 
midteen operating proﬁt margins in good 
times and double digit in bad times
pretax proﬁt for the group was £828 million 
up 155 on the prior year underlying 
earnings per share at 234 pence compared 
to 197 pence last year also showed double 
digit levels of year on year growth
divisional highlights
given the increasingly challenging market 
environment in 2008 it is pleasing to report 
that all three divisions delivered yearonyear 
increases in sales and operating proﬁts
progress was particularly encouraging in the 
insulating ceramics division – the group’s 
largest division by revenue – which saw 
revenues rise 182 from £3240 million 
to £3829 million 61 on a constant 
currency basis this was driven in particular 
by large project orders into the chemical 
john brings a wealth of experience to the 
role on the back of his 18 years service with 
morgan crucible during which time he has 
lived and worked across the globe for the 
group in a range of different roles and 
businesses john replaces phil wright who 
after 16 years of loyal and committed service 
to morgan crucible retired from the group 
at the end of the year phil has successfully 
brought about signiﬁcant changes to the 
manufacturing footprint of the molten metal 
systems business leaving it well positioned 
for the future i would like to thank phil 
personally for all of his contributions over 
the years
looking forward
unprecedented volatility in the global 
economy clearly makes it much more 
difﬁcult than usual to forecast the demand 
outlook accurately however our ongoing 
strategy of moving towards less economically 
cyclical markets has successfully reduced 
the group’s exposure to some of the sectors 
which came under particular pressure in 
the latter half of 2008 such as automotive 
consumer goods and semiconductors 
demand in markets such as defence and 
medical remained strong which to date has 
offset the softening we have seen in some 
sectors which are more aligned with the 
general industrial cycle in those markets 
where we have seen weakening demand 
we have taken decisive actions to reduce 
the cost base going forward we remain 
watchful and prepared to respond 
proactively to any other signs of slowdowns 
in our end markets as they emerge 
the general economic environment is 
clearly more difﬁcult now than it has been 
for many years but i remain conﬁdent that 
morgan crucible is a higher quality more 
resilient business than in the past as we 
look to the future we are committed to 
demonstrating this quality and resilience 
over the next 12 months
mark robertshaw 
chief executive ofﬁcer
and petroleum markets along with robust 
demand in emerging market economies 
the focus on operational excellence in 
the division through the world class 
manufacturing wcm programme yielded 
good improvements in our manufacturing 
processes our commitment to remaining 
at the forefront of world technical leadership 
in the insulating ceramics ﬁeld was 
underpinned by the opening of a new 
global rd centre in bromborough uk
the technical ceramics division also had 
an excellent year with revenues up from 
£1526 million in 2007 to £2122 million 
in 2008 representing 33 growth on 
a constant currency basis and excluding 
acquisitions there was good progress in 
the underlying business particularly in 
medical market applications with divisional 
performance also bolstered by the new 
revenue and earnings stream from the 
carpenter businesses i am pleased to 
report that these newly acquired businesses 
– which predominantly serve the aerospace 
and power generation markets – have 
delivered an excellent set of results in 
their ﬁrst nine months with the group
the carbon division also reported 
year on year growth in revenues and 
operating proﬁts revenues increased 
from £2166 million to £2399 million 
representing 13 growth on a constant 
currency basis this revenue progress was 
achieved despite delays to the us military 
procurement programme for the next 
generation of us body armour xsapi 
encouragingly the np aerospace business in 
which we acquired a 49 equity stake last 
year ﬁnished a very successful 2008 with a 
strong order book for 2009 having secured 
additional contracts from the uk military for 
vehicle armouring applications 
management
a major priority for me as group chief 
executive remains to continue to develop 
and enhance the senior management team 
of morgan crucible with the next generation 
of home grown talent i am therefore 
delighted to report that john maxwell 
was appointed ceo of the molten metal 
systems business unit formerly known as 
the crucibles business on 1 october 2008 
delivering substantial 
progress