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LONDON (Alliance News) - Accrol Group Holdings PLC on Wednesday reported a fall in profit in the first half of its financial year due to costs associated with its listing in London last year, but revenue grew largely thanks to good sales growth with discount retailers and it declared a maiden dividend payout.
Accrol, which manufacturers tissues and toilet paper, said pretax profit in the six months to the end of October fell to GBP3.1 million from GBP3.7 million the year before, as it booked exceptional costs of GBP1.2 million relating to its initial public offering last June.
Gross profit, before the one-off listing costs, rose 5.6% year-on-year to GBP18.2 million from GBP17.2 million.
Revenue, however, rose to GBP63.9 million from GBP58.7 million, boosted by continued growth of its private label products into discount and multiple retailers.
Accrol declared a maiden interim dividend of 2.00 pence for the half.
Accrol added that its recently-signed contract to supply products to German discount supermarket Lidl is expected to generate more than the GBP10 million sales per year which it had previously expected.
It also noted that it has made "significant progress" with its strategic plan of making operational improvements and increasing capacity to ensure it can "best meet" the growing demand for its products.
"We remain confident in the outlook for the full year," Chief Executive Steve Crossley said in a statement.
Shares in Accrol were trading down 3.3% at 122.30p on Wednesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com; @KarolinaAllNews
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