LONDON (Alliance News) - Air filtration and clean air technology company MayAir Group PLC on Monday said its pretax profit rose in the first half as it delivered a big rise in revenue and said it has good visibility on sales for the rest of 2015.
MayAir, which floated in London in May, said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of June was USD4.1 million, up from USD3.5 million a year earlier. The group, which is focused on China but which has been expanding sales outside of the country, said its revenue was up to USD31.6 million in the half from USD21.2 million a year ago, driven by 70% growth in industrial markets and a 43% rise in commercial sales.
During the half, the group bought land in Nanjing in China to build a new manufacturing facility and increase its production capacity. It also invested heavily in sales and marketing staff in the half, which resulted in a 31% rise in sales for the group outside of China. It expects its non-China sales to expand significantly from 2016 on following these investments.
"We entered the second half of 2015 with a secured order book providing good visibility for the second half of 2015, and continue to receive increasing demand. As a result, we are on track to achieve significant growth for full year 2015 in line with market expectations," said Yap Wee Keong, MayAir's chief executive.
"Looking further ahead, with funds raised in our IPO, we have begun investing to diversify our market segments and increase our production capacity. At the same time, the demand for clean air at work and at home shows no signs of abating. As such, the board remains confident in MayAir's significant growth prospects and looks forward to utilising our expertise to provide clean air solutions for all markets," Keong added.
The company said it remains confident that demand will hold up for its products despite the slowdown in the Chinese economy which has emerged in the last couple of months, and said the devaluation of the yuan should not impact the company as its currency risks are hedged and contained.
Shares in MayAir were untraded on Monday, having last traded at 129.00 pence, slightly below its 130.00 pence initial public offering price.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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