senior plc
5961 high street
rickmansworth
hertfordshire
wd3 1rh
united kingdom 
tel 44 01923 775547
fax 44 01923 896027
wwwseniorplccom
senior plc annual report  accounts 2002
senior plc annual report  accounts 2002 £1646 million


Summary:
 2 senior plc
chairman’s statement
during the course of 2002 the group faced
frequent changes to customer requirements
particularly in the civil aerospace market
where the industry adjusted demand levels
downwards throughout the year this was 
in addition to the recessionary environment
experienced in most parts of our business
nevertheless the group continued to
implement improvements in the operational
aspects of the business and emerged in
better managerial order at the end of the
year in addition and very importantly 
the group net debt was reduced from £1227m
at the beginning of 2002 to £874m at the
end – a 29 drop in a difﬁcult trading year
and firm evidence of the quality of the
underlying businesses and the improving
ﬁnancial position of the group
financial headlines
group turnover from continuing operations fell 103 in the 
year to £3987m and operating proﬁt from continuing operations
before goodwill amortisation and exceptional items declined 
from £340m to £247m group profit before tax declined from
£95m to £70m resulting in underlying earnings per share of 
447p 2001 – 551p
operations
aerospace sales dropped by 164 in 2002 to £1646m 2001 – £1968m
as the full year impact of reduced demand from the civil market was
seen this was mitigated to some extent by improved demand from
the military and defence sectors operating proﬁts before goodwill
amortisation and exceptional items which had dropped sharply 
in the first half recovered a little in the second half to end the 
year at £84m 2001 – £180m
sales in the automotive division declined by 72 to £1484m 
2001 – £1600m this was primarily due to some of our product
programmes in north america coming to an end operating proﬁts before
goodwill amortisation and exceptional items were £127m 2001 – £128m 
with an operating margin on this basis of 86 2001 – 80
the specialised industrial division recorded sales of £861m 
2001 – £885m the operating margin before goodwill amortisation
and exceptional items improved from 36 to 42 with the
associated operating proﬁts ahead by 125 to £36m
these results are stated before £13m 2001 – £29m of costs incurred
on reorganisation programmes to deal with the adverse market conditions
during the year the group disposed of its four european expansion
joint operations with the proceeds contributing to the debt reduction
dividend
in 2001 dividend levels were amended to bring the dividend cover
back to a more appropriate level for the business in line with this
policy the board is recommending a final dividend of 135p per 
share in respect of 2002 bringing the total dividend for the year 
to 200p per share 2001 – 200p
employees and the board
during the year mike sheppard joined the board having worked as
an executive within senior for a number of years mike is the chief
executive of the automotive division and the north american industrial
operations he is a us citizen and works out of chicago having been
elected by the board during the year he will stand for reelection 
by the shareholders at the forthcoming annual general meeting
richard turner who has been a nonexecutive director of senior 
since 1996 has agreed to a further two year term until july 2004 
and offers himself for reelection by the shareholders at the annual
general meeting during 2002 richard was awarded the cmg in the
queen’s birthday honours list and the group congratulates him upon
his award in addition john hudson who retired from the board 
in 2001 after nine years as a nonexecutive director was awarded 
the obe and we send our congratulations to him
during 2002 employee numbers were reduced to bring capacity in
line with demand and many operational changes and improvements
were implemented in this tough and uncertain period and throughout
all the necessary changes there has been unstinting enthusiasm 
and support from our employees for which we thank them annual report  accounts 2002 3
outlook
it is hoped that the rescheduling of aerospace orders was largely
completed in 2002 2003 has started with a more settled outlook
albeit at this lower level of demand but at levels that have been
planned for by the operations barring further market deterioration 
we expect some modest recovery in our aerospace performance
helped by new programmes starting volume production and the
benefits of operational improvements coming through
senior automotive will be impacted by two programme conclusions 
in 2003 and automotive production volumes in north america and
europe are softening we remain cautious on the outlook in specialised
industrial trading conditions in north america are reasonable although
those in europe are generally more difﬁcult
we expect 2003 to be another challenging year with manufacturing
recession and political uncertainty continuing nevertheless senior 
is operationally in much better condition to deal with this period 
of uncertainty and the lower debt level allows the group to look
forward to the future with renewed confidence
james kerrmuir chairman
turnover £m
operating margin 
underlying earnings per share pence
dividends per share pence
 continuing businesses before
impairment and amortisation 
of goodwill
gross capital expenditure £m
net debt £m
free cash flow £m