(Alliance News) - Alumasc on Tuesday was "very pleased" to report an "encouraging" performance in its latest half year, and expects to achieve its full-year guidance.
The Kettering, England-based supplier of building and engineering products said pretax profit for the six months to December 31 was GBP5.6 million, up 4.8% from GBP5.3 million the year before.
Revenue increased 6.4% to GBP47.8 million from GBP45.0 million. Alumasc in particular noted a strong performance from its Water Management business, where revenue increased 12% to GBP22.0 million from GBP19.6 million.
The company declared an interim dividend of 3.45 pence per share, slightly up from 3.40p the prior year.
Net bank debt at the end of the year was GBP7.4 million, up from GBP6.8 million at the same time one year prior. Alumasc said this was due to the GBP6.5 million net cash outflow on its up to GBP10.0 million acquisition of ARP Group in December.
Looking ahead, Alumasc said the "external geopolitical and economic environment" looks set to "continue to create uncertainty for our sector for the remainder of the year". However, it believes its strengths such as cost base management will "help mitigate" this.
Additionally, Alumasc said that thanks to structural drivers of water and energy management "mean the group remains well positioned to deliver significant long term growth when markets recover".
"We are very pleased to report an encouraging first half in which we continued to outperform our underlying construction markets," commented Chief Executive Paul Hooper. "As expected, UK sales were resilient in a challenging environment...We have again demonstrated the resilience of our business model with its multi-markets exposure."
He continued: "The board remains confident in achieving full year expectations, despite the expected continuation of UK demand headwinds and the further delay of a significant export contract in Hong Kong."
Shares in Alumasc were trading 3.5% lower at 176.55 pence on Tuesday afternoon in London.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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Alumasc Group (ALU)