Latchways posts lower full-year profit

Safety harness specialist Latchways reported a 3% drop in full-year profits after second half revenues were affected by the global economic downturn.Profit before tax and exceptional items fell to £8.83m in the year ended 31 March compared with £9.12m previously while revenue increased 5% to £37m.The final dividend increased by 10% to 15.63p, taking the total dividend for the year to 23.44p from 21.31p last time."The global picture for construction related projects remains weak, and must be expected to remain so for some time," said chairman Paul Hearson."However, the variety and scale of non-construction related prospects is encouraging and we are confident that these will generate revenues for the coming year," he added.