ALU6 Sep 2011 17:04
Investors happy as Alumasc confirms dividend
By Michael Millar
Date: Tuesday 06 Sep 2011
LONDON (ShareCast) - Building and engineering products company, Alumasc, impressed investors with a 55% increase in profits in the year to the end of June.
The firm also confirmed an unchanged final dividend of 6.75p per share, giving a total for the year of 10p per share.
There had been fears that a deterioration in margins would see the firm cut its payout for shareholders.
Pre-tax profits came in at £5.4m, which combined with the news of the dividend, sent shares up 6% in morning trading.
Profits were driven by the firm's Alumasc Precision division, which benefitted from strong export demand from companies serving mining and construction sectors in emerging markets.
Chairman, John McCall, said it had been a year of stark contrasts for UK business.
"Early cycle businesses, such as precision engineering, where customers react swiftly to change in economic conditions, experienced strong recovery as distribution pipelines were replenished and global development programmes resumed," he said.
"In contrast, those businesses with longer lead times, such as construction, continued to experience decline in demand as completed projects outstripped new work."
The cut-back in public expenditure in the UK intensified this contrast, he added, with revenues from building products missing expectations, despite growing by by 10% to £71.2m.
Overall, full year group revenues from continuing operations grew by £19.3m, or 22%, to £106.8m.