Robert Wiseman Dairies is a public limited company. Its head office is in East Kilbride, near Glasgow. The Group’s turnover and profits arise wholly from the supply and distribution of fresh processed milk and cream. It operates entirely in the UK with dairies at Aberdeen, Glasgow and Manchester. The average number of persons employed by the Group during 2002 was 2692 (2302 on production and distribution, and 390 on administration).

The company was originally a small family business. In recent years it has expanded rapidly. It has done this partly by natural growth and partly through acquiring other companies. It became a public company in 1994.

Appendix 1 shows the Group’s consolidated profit and loss account, balance sheet and consolidated cash flow statement for each of the five years March/April 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 respectively. Appendix 2 contains some accounting ratios based on those financial statements.

Required:

Analyze the company’s financial performance for the five years 1998 to 2002 inclusive.