(Alliance News) - Norish PLC on Friday said profit for 2019 increased despite lower revenue, as it upped its dividend payout.
The stock was trading 2.4% higher at 86.00 pence each on Friday morning in London.
The cold-storage warehousing and logistics firm said pretax profit went up by 20% to GBP2.4 million from GBP2 million in 2018. Revenue however, was slightly lower at GBP36.5 million from GBP36.8 million.
In 2018, Norish disposed of its Juice business for the ready-to-drinks market. The disposal led to a lower loss of GBP130,000 in 2019 from a loss of GBP390,000 the previous year.
Sales in the Cold Stores business increase by 10% to GBP15 million from GBP13.7 million. However, the Sourcing division saw sales decline by 8.4% to GBP20.6 million from GBP22.5 million the year prior.
The company said its investment in the dairy division is progressing well despite still being in the development stage. Operating performance of Cantwellscourt Farm improved with milk production recording a rise of 56%. It added that in the second half of 2019, it completed the conversion of the herd to 100% A2-protein.
Norish proposed a dividend of 1.90 Euro cents, up from 1.80 cents the year before.
As at period end, the company's net debt was GBP9.7 million, down from GBP10.5 million in 2018. Cash stood at GBP3.5 million, up from GBP2.8 million.
Looking ahead, Chair Ted O'Neill said: "Despite the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 we remain optimistic for the year ahead. Notwithstanding disruption in shipments to China year to date, we believe that activity in our cold store division will return to anticipated levels over the balance of the year."
"Within our sourcing division we have added fish as a protein, and we expect to increase sales and improve on profitability. Our subsidiary, Grass to Milk Company, remains on track to launch A2-protein based dairy products in targeted export markets in the second half of 2020," he added.
By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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