(Alliance News) - Biffa PLC on Thursday reinstated its interim dividend after a first half that saw revenue top levels seen prior to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Less promisingly, Biffa warned progress at its Seaham recycling plant has been slower than expected.
Biffa shares were down 9.6% at 357.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
The waste management firm posted revenue of GBP671.2 million for the first half ended September 24, a 39% rise from GBP482.5 million a year earlier and up 14% on the pre-pandemic financial year 2020.
Meanwhile, the High Wycombe, England-based company trimmed its pretax loss to GBP25.6 million, from GBP52.5 million a year previously. The adjusted operating profit for the period was GBP45.4 million, up significantly from GBP9.7 million a year prior and tantalisingly close to GBP45.7 million from financial 2020.
"During the first half of the year we have successfully restored Biffa's adjusted operating profit to financial year 2020 levels, managed the impact of the supply chain challenges that are affecting the entire economy, and continued to make good progress in delivering our strategic priorities," explained Chief Executive Michael Topham.
Topham highlighted some cost inflationary pressure experienced by the firm, though stated that the business had a level of pricing flexibility that helped with mitigating this. Supply chain disruptions also hampered trading, Biffa said, with HGV driver shortages a continued problem.
Looking ahead, Biffa reaffirmed its expectations for the full year and said profitability is set to improve further during the second half.
On the back of the promising first half, Biffa reinstated its interim dividend at 2.20p per share.
Work at its Seaham recycling asset is "behind our expectations", Biffa cautioned, however.
"Our new facilities at Seaham and Washington have completed their commissioning and at Seaham we are now moving through customer acceptance phases. This process is taking slightly longer than expected, and therefore we have sold less recycled polyethylene tetraphyte pellet than anticipated, but we anticipate full acceptances in the near term ahead of the implementation of the new plastics tax in April 2022," Biffa explained.
By Will Paige; willpaige@alliancenews.com
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