Mpac Group Sinks To Loss In 2018 As Administrative Costs Almost Double

LONDON (Alliance News) - Mpac Group PLC said Tuesday it swung to a loss in 2018 but believes it has made "sound progress" in the year with revenue increasing almost 10%.

In 2018, the pharmaceutical packaging firm swung to a pretax loss of GBP7.4 million from a GBP4.3 million profit in 2017.

The company had a one-off GBP4.8 million gain in 2017 on a property sale in Canada which, along with higher administrative costs, was attributed for the loss.

Mpac's revenue increased 9.2% to GBP58.3 million from GBP53.4 million. The company's Original Equipment revenue grew by 14% to GBP46.2 million but the Services unit saw revenue decrease by 7% to GBP12.1 million.

The company's administrative expenses almost doubled to GBP16.2 million from GBP8.8 million. Mpac said it underwent a limited restructuring in the period, leading to the higher costs.

As the company sunk to a loss in 2018, it has decided not to pay a dividend. Mpac said any further dividend payments will be considered against trading performance or if the board believes it is prudent to do so. Mpac did not pay a dividend in 2017.

''In the past year we have continued to make sound progress with our strategic plans and have delivered top line growth, improved financial performance and increased our order book. We faced a challenging first half of the year with slower than anticipated order intake and two legacy contract issues, which the management took swift action to resolve and we are now confident that we are back on track to achieve our strategic aims," said Chief Executive Tony Steels.

Steels continued: "The group entered 2019 with a stronger order book than the year before and with a broader, updated product portfolio following the commercialisation of several innovation projects. 2019 has started well with order intake for the first two months ahead of the same period last year. With this foundation and a strong operational and management team, the future prospects remain positive."

Shares in Mpac Group were up 1.5% Tuesday at 137.00 pence each.