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LONDON (Alliance News) - Specialist engineering firm MS International PLC reported Thursday a rise in pretax profit and maintained its interim dividend per share.
MS International said pretax profit totalled GBP610,000 for the 26 weeks to October 29, up from GBP395,000 in the same period the previous year, on revenue of GBP25.0 million, up from GBP24.0 million.
It maintained its interim dividend at 1.5 pence per share.
The company said it had continued to make "good overall progress" across its businesses, despite persistent political and economic uncertainty in its markets.
MS International noted a continued upward trajectory for revenue in its Defence division, whilst markets for its Forgings business remained generally subdued. Its Petrol Station Superstructures operations in the UK and Poland achieved an "outstandingly high" level of activity in new station developments.
A short-term delay of a major rebranding programme by one of its customers led to a fall in revenue at its Petrol Sign business. However, it has since been given instructions to proceed and said it anticipates "a busy period for some months ahead".
"Overall we believe the group has come a long way in the past year, making good progress and undertaking the right steps for all the individual businesses to ensure that we can maximise the group's potential in challenging times and markets. Orders in hand are some 7% higher than six months ago, the balance sheet is in excellent shape and there is a first-class positive and constructive attitude prevailing throughout the business," the company said.
Shares in MS International were up 1.8% at 166.50 pence Thursday morning, having started the day lower.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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