(Alliance News) - Polymer supplier Victrex PLC on Monday said it is comfortable with its full-year expectations after reporting a decline in profit for the first half.
The FTSE 250-listed company said sales volume of 2,087 tonnes in the six months to the end of March was 5% up on the prior year, with performance principally reflecting strong growth in Electronics and improvement in Value Added Resellers and Automotive.
Revenue for the half-year edged down 0.4% to GBP150.9 million, reflecting a weaker sales mix. On a constant currency basis, revenue rose by 2% year-on-year.
Pretax profit declined 7% to GBP46.6 million due to the impact from a higher unit cost of sales. The gross margin nudged down to 53.9% versus 57.3% a year ago.
Despite the profit fall, Victrex declared an interim dividend of 13.42 pence versus none paid a year prior. The interim dividend for the 2020 financial year was deferred and subsequently cancelled as part of cash conservation measures. The payout just declared is at the same level as the interim dividend for 2019.
"Whilst there may yet be upside to our anticipated full-year performance, with the continued impact of post-Brexit inventory unwind on fixed cost recovery, and accrual for our all-employee-bonus scheme, at this stage we remain comfortable with current full year expectations," said Chief Executive Jakob Sigurdsson.
Victrex shares were trading 6.5% higher in London on Monday morning at 2,518.00p each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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Victrex (VCT)