AGA.L Share News (AGA)

Expensive cooker maker AGA Rangemaster dished up a big increase in profits last year as sales picked up during the second half.Profit before tax swelled to £19.9m from £0.5m the year before, though £16.3m of that was down to a one-off curtailment gain after the firm froze final salaries in the pension scheme. An operating loss of £1.5m in 2009 turned into a profit of £5.1m this time on revenue up almost 6% to £259.1m compared with a 4.8% increase at the interim stage. Just under two-thirds of sales - 63% - were in the UK."Our two core brands, Rangemaster and the classic AGA, put in strong performances and were key to the near 6% revenue increase we saw during 2010," chief executive William McGrath said."We expect similar trend lines in 2011 in spite of the clouds over consumer markets. Strong finances, good operational gearing and investment in new products were the themes of 2010 which will bring clear cut progress in 2011."A final dividend of 1p a share makes a total of 1.7p for the year.