(Sharecast News) - Synthomer reported a drop in interim pre-tax profit on Tuesday but struck a confident note on the outlook as it said all segments had grown apart from the elastomers arm.
In the six months to 30 June, pre-tax profit fell to £114.7m from £272.4m in the same period a year earlier, with revenues up 8.6% to £1.33bn.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell to £173.1m from £322.7m a year earlier, but were ahead of the £100.2m generated in 2020 and the £99.7m seen in 2019. Synthomer said all businesses delivered EBITDA growth apart from the performance elastomers segment, which had an "exceptional" prior year of peak demand for nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) related to the Covid pandemic.
Chief executive Michael Willome said: "These results demonstrate the solid performance of the business compared to pre pandemic levels with EBITDA significantly ahead of 2020 and 2019 and good levels of organic profit growth.
"All parts of the business except NBR generated EBITDA growth against a strong H1 2021 comparator, demonstrating the strength and diversity of Synthomer's portfolio. Our performance reflects the benefits of recent acquisitions with Functional Solutions continuing to leverage its increased global reach and portfolio depth and Adhesive Technologies having a strong first quarter in our group, in line with our expectations."
At 0825 BST, the shares were down 6.6% at 219.48p.
Synthomer (SYNT)