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(Alliance News) - Rotork PLC on Tuesday said that an easing up of supply chain challenges had driven a solid performance in 2023, providing the necessary financial flexibility to launch a major buyback.
Shares in Rotork were up 6.2% at 335.80 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
The Bath, England-based manufacturer of industrial flow control equipment said pretax profit rose 21% in 2023, to GBP150.6 million from GBP124.1 million in 2022.
Revenue was up 12% in the year to GBP719.1 million from GBP641.8 million, while basic earnings per share increased 22% to 13.2p from 10.9p.
Rotork credited the year's success to a continued recovery in the oil and gas sector in 2023, as well as an improvement to supply chain issues in the second half of the year. It said the latter led to a sales increase across all three of its divisions.
The company had GBP134.4 million in net cash at December 31, up from GBP105.9 million at the end of 2022.
As a result of its "strong balance sheet", Rotork declared a final dividend of 4.65p per share, up 8.1% from 4.3p in 2022. This brought the full-year dividend to GBP7.20p, up 7.5% from 6.70p.
Looking ahead, Rotork said it was confident in delivering on the key tenets of its 'Growth+' strategy, which includes mid-to-high single digit sales growth and raising its 22.9% adjusted operating margin into the mid-20s.
Also on Tuesday, the company announced a share buyback programme to repurchase up to GBP50 million worth of ordinary shares.
Rotork said that this was a result of its "strong cash position" allowing it to return cash to shareholders while maintaining a healthy balance sheet.
By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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