Continued

14 Investments

		Unlisted		Post
	Own shares	shares at cost		acquisition results		Total
	£million	£million		£million		£million
Group
Associates
At 1 January 2003	-	1.6		0.4		2.0
Retained profits	-	-		0.1		0.1
Currency translation differences	-	(0.2	)	(0.1	)	(0.3	)
At 31 December 2003	-	1.4		0.4		1.8
Other investments
Cost at 1 January 2003	1.7	1.6		-		3.3
Currency translation differences	-	(0.2	)	-		(0.2	)
At 31 December 2003	1.7	1.4		-		3.1
Provided at 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2003	1.7	-		-		1.7
Net book value
31 December 2003	-	2.8		0.4		3.2
31 December 2002	-	3.2		0.4		3.6

The other investment in unlisted shares is in non-voting, redeemable preferred stock in Harcros Chemicals Inc (formerly Harcros Chemicals Acquisitions Inc), the purchaser of the chemical distribution business.

	Unlisted		Unlisted shares
	loan		at cost	Total
	£million		£million	£million
Company
Subsidiary undertakings
Cost at 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2003	759.0		0.1	759.1
Provision for impairment - at 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2003	(106.0	)	-	(106.0	)
At 31 December 2003	653.0		0.1	653.1

The investment in unlisted loan is with Elementis Holdings Limited, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary. The provision for impairment was made following a directors’ valuation of the subsidiary undertakings using a discounted cash flow methodology. The investment in unlisted shares is in Elementis Group BV, which is a wholly owned subsidiary. The directors’ valuation of the unlisted investments of the Group and the Company is not less than their carrying value. Own shares are shares held by an Employee Share Ownership Trust in view of its contingent obligations to transfer ownership of shares to employees in the future arising under the Performance Share Plan referred to in the Directors’ remuneration report. The cost of the shares held by the Trust is charged to the profit and loss account over the relevant period until the shares vest unconditionally.

15 Stocks

	Group
	2003	2002
	£million	£million
Raw materials and consumables	9.8	12.3
Work in progress	6.8	9.8
Finished goods and goods purchased for resale	37.8	38.7
	54.4	60.8

16 Debtors

	Group		Company
	2003	2002	2003	2002
	£million	£million	£million	£million
Trade debtors	55.8	51.3	-	-
Corporate tax recoverable	1.6	8.5	2.7	2.6
ACT recoverable	1.5	1.5	-	-
Other debtors	5.2	9.8	-	-
Prepayments and accrued income	4.8	5.5	-	-
	68.9	76.6	2.7	2.6

Other debtors for the Group include £0.5 million (2002: £0.4 million) falling due after more than one year.

17 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

	Group		Company
	2003 £million	2002 £million	2003 £million	2002 £million
Trade creditors	36.8	43.9	-	-
Amounts owed to subsidiary undertakings	-	-	0.4	0.1
Amounts owed to associated undertakings	1.8	1.5	-
Corporate tax payable	7.8	16.0	-	-
Other taxes and social security	0.9	2.0	-	-
Other creditors	3.4	4.6	-	-
Accruals and deferred income	12.8	10.0	-	0.1
	63.5	78.0	0.4	0.2

Notes to the financial statements continue on the next page >
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