Elementis Share News (ELM)

Global speciality chemicals group Elementis hailed an "excellent" 2013 for the group as it posted healthy full numbers and underlined its confidence on outlook by hiking both its final payout and special dividend. Full-year pre-tax profits increased 2% to $136m on sales ahead 3% to $776.8m. Basic earnings per share rose to 23.3 cents from 22.2 cents. The net cash position improved 23% to $54m. Group Chief Executive, David Dutro said: "2013 has been another excellent year for Elementis with sales, operating profit, operating cash flow and earnings per share all showing a positive trend."Across the divisions, Elementis Specialty Products delivered "excellent" growth in both sales and operating profit for the year, with stable operating margins.The division, which provides additives for architectural and industrial coatings, personal care and oilfield drilling markets to improve flow characteristics customer products, benefitted from all its main market segments and geographies contributing to the growth. As previously reported by the group, the Elementis Chromium arm was impacted by a planned maintenance shutdown in the first quarter. It recovered from the closure as the year progressed, delivering stable margins for the full year. The division provides chemicals to its customers that make their products more durable in applications such as aerospace alloys, timber treatment and leather production.Meanwhile, Elementis Surfactants, which makes ingredients and products that are used as intermediates in the production of chemical components, continued to benefit from improvements in the quality of its product portfolio. As a result, the division's operating profit improved 17% versus the previous year. Dutro said that although it is widely anticipated 2014 will be a period of modest growth in global GDP, the group's internal performance targets and growth objectives are not predicated on improvements in overall market conditions. He added: "Based on our strategic position, focus on innovation, strong product portfolio and healthy new product pipeline, we remain confident in our ability to deliver profitable growth across a broad range of economic scenarios."The final dividend has been increased by 3% to 5.5 cents while the special dividend has been hiked by 22% to 5.86 cents from 4.79 cents. The group's dividend strategy, announced in 2012, is to pay out approximately one third of earnings, before exceptional items, each year in a combination of interim and final dividends. In mid-morning trade Elementis shares were off 1.6% or 4.65p to 271.55p, easing down after a strong run over the month. KP