22nd Nov 2016 08:16
LONDON (Alliance News) - Banknote printer De La Rue PLC said Tuesday that sustained weakness in sterling could benefit its business, as its statutory interim profit declined and revenue was flat.
De La Rue reported a pretax profit of GBP17.2 million for the six months to September 24, down by 31% from GBP25.1 million in the same period in its prior financial year. However, De La Rue said that its underlying pretax profit increased by 3.0% to GBP18.2 million from GBP17.6 million.
De La Rue said the difference between the underlying and statutory figures was due to having reported GBP7.5 million of exceptional net gains in the previous interim period, compared to GBP1.0 million of exceptional net charges for the reporting period, largely consisting of site relocation costs.
Revenue for the company during the period increased slightly to GBP189.5 million from GBP188.7 million.
De La Rue maintained its interim dividend at 8.3 pence per share.
The company said the interim results were in line with its expectations, with its Currency business showing "strength and resilience" despite the conclusion of a major contract in the prior financial year.
"While we expect little impact in the current financial year, as a major UK-based exporter with more than 80% of our revenue from outside the UK, we believe that we would benefit from a sustained weakness of sterling. We are also encouraged by our 12 month closing order book of GBP409m and the early strategic momentum in the key future growth areas. We remain confident of the business' outlook for the rest of the year and beyond," said Martin Sutherland, chief executive officer.
Shares in De La Rue were up 1.6% at 585.50p Monday morning.
By Adam Clark; [email protected]
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