(Alliance News) - Renold PLC on Friday reported a resilient performance in its recently ended financial year, as pretax profit increased despite the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wythenshawe, England-based Renold is an international supplier of industrial chains and related power transmission products.
Pretax profit for the financial year that ended March 31 was GBP5.9 million, up 20% from GBP4.9 million. The higher profit was achieved despite revenue falling by 13% to GBP165.3 million from GBP189.4 million.
Operating costs and net financing costs each were cut by 12%, while Renold took GBP2.4 million in restructuring costs in financial 2020 that weren't repeated in financial 2021.
Given the volatile operating environment created by the virus pandemic and its impact on market demand, Renold said it has decided against paying a dividend for the recent year. It also had paid no dividend for financial 2020. The dividend will remain under active review for future periods, the company said.
Net debt at the end of March was GBP18.4 million, roughly halved from GBP36.6 a year before, due to strong cash generation.
Renold said it is pleased with the group's robust performance through the pandemic, which reflected the benefits of the strategic development it completed over prior years.
"Throughout the year, the business performance has been on an improving trend, and I am pleased to report that our order books have continued to grow in the early part of the new financial year. Whilst there remains considerable Covid-19-related challenges in some parts of the world, with supply chain issues and rising costs, we are well placed to deal with these and our performance over the last 12 months gives me confidence that we will return to growth in the new financial year," said Chief Executive Robert Purcell.
Shares in Renold were down 1.4% at 22.93 pence each in London on Friday morning.
By Amrit Sahota; newsroom@alliancenews.com
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Renold (RNO)