LONDON (Alliance News) - Water treatment and control products and services company Hydro International PLC on Tuesday said its pretax profit surged in the first half thanks to improved revenue amid good trading conditions in its stormwater divisions and a good start to business in Americas wastewater.
Hydro said its pretax profit in the half to the end of June was up to GBP730,000, compared to the GBP20,000 it made a year earlier. That was driven by a rise in revenue to GBP17.4 million from GBP13.1 million and a substantial improvement in its adjusted operating margin, which rose to 4.5% from 0.7%.
The company said the good results were driven by positive trading conditions in its stormwater division and by a good opening order book in its Americas wastewater business. Order intake was hit in the half, however, by delays in the award of major wastewater projects, particularly in the UK as utilities move to the new regulatory period.
"Profitable growth in the UK and US has underpinned the results achieved with both the Americas divisions achieving record sales and profit for the period," said Michael Jennings, Hydro's chief executive.
"The group's steadily improving financial performance, even while investment continues, gives confidence for the full year outlook as well as for growth prospects for 2016 and beyond," Jennings added.
Shares in Hydro were up 0.8% to 134.56 pence on Tuesday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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