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Vesuvius PLC - London-based molten metal flow engineering - Posts a significant rise in pretax profit to GBP116.7 million for six months ended June 30, up 78% from GBP65.5 million the same period a year earlier, as revenue also jumps 21% year-on-year to GBP1.02 billion from GBP808.1 million. Achieves a return on sales of 12.5%, an increase of 340 basis points, bringing return on sales for last 12 months to 10.6%.
"This was our strongest ever half year performance, which was achieved despite a challenging back drop of steel production declines and broad-based inflationary pressures," the company notes.
Chief Executive Patrick Andre says: "Despite difficult market conditions, we achieved a record level of trading profit and profitability in the first half of 2022 thanks to the benefits of the restructuring of our manufacturing footprint over the past years and our continued investment in research and development."
Declares an interim dividend off 6.5 pence per share, up 5% from 6.2 pence a year prior. Looking ahead, Versuvius says it's confident that 2022 profit will be towards the top end of market forecasts amid a "further deterioration of the market environment," it warns.
Current stock price: 341.00 pence, down 1.0%
12-year change: down 34%
By Xindi Wei; xindiwei@alliancenews.com
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