LONDON (Alliance News) - GYG PLC on Wednesday said swung to an annual profit in 2017 on the back of solid revenue growth while also building a record order book by year's end.
GYG shares were up 11% on Wednesday at a price of 117.01 pence each.
GYG, which paints, supplies, and maintains superyachts, posted a pretax profit of EUR524,000 in 2017, after a loss of EUR66,000 in 2016.
This profit came despite an increase in exceptional items to EUR3.9 million from EUR2.5 million, mainly due to costs related to its initial public offering on AIM in July.
Revenue for the year increased to EUR62.6 million from EUR54.6 million, a rise of 15%. Of this, Coating revenue rose 17% to EUR53.7 million and Supply revenue climbed 4.2% to EUR8.9 million.
Most revenue growth, GYG said, was booked in the first half of the year as several major projects were delayed in the second half due to a string of hurricanes in the US and the Caribbean. In the fourth quarter, revenue growth recovered, it said.
GYG is to pay a total dividend of 3.20 pence per share, its first since listing.
Its order book at the end of 2017 was EUR20.4 million, a record high, compared to EUR17.9 million at the end of 2016. Of that first figure, EUR14.3 million is planned for 2018. Its overall pipeline stood at EUR376.0 million as of the end of 2017, compared to EUR267.0 million a year earlier.
Part of the reason for the increased workload, GYG said, is the "enhanced credibility and profile" as a result of July's stock market float in London.
Trading since the start of the year has been "encouraging", with a busy first quarter, including jobs pushed back into 2018 due to hurricanes. GYG said it is well positioned in its core markets, and the overall outlook for 2018 is positive.