Connect Group PLC provided earnings guidance for the year ended August 31, 2018. Smiths News continues to demonstrate its resilience. Newspapers sales have held up to management forecasts, with magazine sales weakening a little further in the final quarter. The World Cup delivered lower sales of stickers and albums than in previous tournaments but was consistent with revised expectations. Conditions in the parcel freight market have continued to be challenging, with actions to improve service and efficiency having had limited time to influence financial performance in the period. As a consequence, Tuffnells' second half performance is expected to be worse than first half of 2018. In summary, trading in the period has seen a continuation of the challenging trends experienced throughout the year; as a result, the Group expects its full year trading performance to be below expectations.