30th Sep 2015 10:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - Equipment rental company Andrew Sykes Group PLC on Wednesday said its pretax profit rose in the first half due to better revenue and an improved gross margin.
The company, which rents air conditioning units, pumps, chillers, heating, ventilation and dehumidification units, said its pretax profit was GBP4.7 million in the six months to the end of June, up from GBP4.1 million a year earlier.
Revenue rose to GBP28.2 million from GBP26.8 million, driven by a good performance for its heating and boiling hire products over the winter months and helped by continued stability in the UK construction sector. Air conditioning demand was broadly in line year-on-year, while it saw a big improvement in its Benelux business following a poor performance a year earlier.
Trading in the third quarter has been broadly positive, Andrew Sykes said, with good demand for air conditioning products in Europe thanks to the warm summer weather. It said it remains cautiously optimistic of delivering an improved performance for the full year.
The company said it will pay a flat interim dividend of 11.90 pence.
Shares in Andrew Sykes were up 6.7% to 338.7499 pence on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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