13th Jun 2018 10:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - Autins Group PLC held its interim dividend Wednesday as it swung to a half-year profit following a sharp fall in exceptional costs and as it expects a previously forecast second-half performance boost to not materialise.
For the six months ended March, the automotive insulation firm swung to a pretax profit of GBP54 million from a GBP220 million loss the year prior.
Revenue rose to GBP15.9 million from GBP12.3 million the year before, but profit performance was primarily affected by a sharp fall in exceptional costs during the period. The year prior, Autins paid GBP25 million in initial public offering costs and took GBP197 million in other exceptional costs which were not repeated in the most recent period.
In August 2016, Autins raised GBP26.6 million in its initial public offering. At the IPO price of 168 pence per share, the firm was valued at the time at GBP37.1 million. Shares in Autins were quoted at 54.00 pence on Wednesday, up 1.9% on the day, but less than a third of its IPO price.
Autins proposed a 0.4p per share interim dividend, flat on the year prior.
"Our first half of year shows solid results in that we have continued to deliver top-line growth although at the same time seeing pressure on gross margins," Autins Chairman Adam Attwood said. "This reflects the challenging conditions in the UK automotive market."
"We had previously provided guidance that we expected a significant weighting to the second half of 2018," Attwood added. "However, visibility to current volumes now indicates lower levels of supply required from some of our major customers in the UK and, therefore, our second half performance is likely to remain similar to the first."
"The investment in the Neptune facilities since the IPO will enable the group to broaden its customer base and the technical approvals secured recently with Europe's leading automotive OEMs represents a significant step towards achieving that goal," Attwood said.
In March, Autins reported Chief Executive Officer Michael Jennings would be quitting the firm in order to return to his old role as boss of Hydro International Ltd. He was appointed Autins boss in June 2017, having been interim CEO since February that year.
Autins gave no update on its leadership on Wednesday.
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