18th Feb 2014 11:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - Brammer PLC Tuesday said last year's pretax profit rose by 25% as it delivered a, "resilient and robust performance" despite difficult market conditions across Europe.
But challenging markets mean that many of Brammer's competitors are finding business "increasingly" difficult.
"We are seeing more opportunities to acquire businesses which would complement and enhance the Brammer Group," Brammer said in a statement.
In a statement, Brammer said it made a GBP32.9 million pretax profit in 2013, compared with a GBP26.2 million in the year before that.
Revenue rose by 1.9% to GBP651.9 million with cost of sales broadly flat at GBP446.6 million, resulting in a gross profit of GBP205.3 million.
The company said growth in its Key Account sales and "strong revenue growth" in Tools and Maintenance outweighed a decline in its Base business.
"In 2013 we continued to gain market share, driven by the provision of exceptional value and service to our customers, and further investment in our long term growth strategy," Ian Fraser, Chief Executive, said in a statement.
"There were some signs of improvement in our markets as the year drew to a close, and we are cautiously optimistic that this modest improvement will continue in 2014," he said.
"The first six weeks of the New Year have continued the positive trend of the final quarter. Whilst the pace of economic recovery in Europe remains uncertain, our growth drivers will ensure we continue to perform well ahead of our markets," Fraser added.
After reporting broadly flat costs, which totalled GBP168.0 million, Brammer reported a GBP37.3 million operating profit, up from last year's GBP29.6 million.
Net cash inflow from operating activities of came to GBP45.5 million, a GBP20.2 million increase from the GBP25.3 million in 2012.
Brammer intends to declare a final dividend of 6.8 pence, which would result in total dividends for 2013 rising by 8.5% on 2012 to 10.2 pence a share. It said the dividend increase reflects the board's confidence for the business.
The net pension liability relating to the defined benefit pension schemes increased by GBP6.1 million to GBP27.8 million, according to Brammer.
Brammer shares were trading up 0.4% at 446.125 pence per share Tuesday.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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