(Alliance News) - Epwin Group PLC on Wednesday maintained a positive outlook as it reported double-digit profit growth, and announced the appointment of a new chair as Andrew Eastgate is set to retire next month.
The Solihull, England-based building products' manufacturer said 2023 revenue fell 2.9% to GBP345.4 million from GBP355.8 million the year before.
The reduction in sales resulted from lower volumes and surcharge reductions as inflated polyvinyl chloride input prices reduced, Epwin explained.
Pretax profit, however, grew 11% to GBP13.2 million from GBP11.9 million a year prior, partly due to it not paying any acquisition-related costs in 2023, compared to the GBP700,000 paid the year before.
Epwin proposed a final dividend of 2.80 pence per share, resulting in a total dividend of 4.80p per share, up 7.9% from 4.45p in 2022. This increase in dividend reflects the firm's positive outlook and strong financial position, it said.
Looking ahead, the firm expects its "resilience against subdued markets" to continue in 2024, and said it is currently trading in line with expectations.
Chief Executive Officer Jon Bednall said: "The group has, once again, delivered financial performance at, or ahead of, market consensus expectations, with 2023 results significantly ahead of a strong 2022 comparative. This is testament to the combined efforts of all my Epwin colleagues, and I would like to thank them for this and for the good progress we have continued to make with both our strategic and sustainability targets.
"Our diversified portfolio of energy efficient and low maintenance building products leaves us well positioned when end markets recover and to benefit from longer-term structural drivers of demand."
Epwin also said it had extended its share buyback programme to buy an additional three million shares, after purchasing three million shares for GBP2.3 million. The firm had launched a share buyback programme in November as it looked to "take advantage of current market conditions to repurchase shares at attractive levels".
Its new share buyback is expected to be completed by September 30, and will be conducted by Shore Capital.
Epwin also announced that Chair Andrew Eastgate will retire following the company's annual general meeting on May 21, after 10 years in the role. He will be succeeded Stephen Harrison, an existing independent non-executive director.
According to Epwin, Harrison has been a board member since 2022, and was most recently chief executive officer of Forterra PLC.
Shares in Epwin were up 0.2% at 84.18 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Sabrina Penty, Alliance News reporter
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