14th Nov 2014 09:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Castings PLC on Friday said its pretax profit in the first half dropped on the back of a fall in revenue, as the company came under pressure from the weaker trading environment in Europe.
The iron castings company said its pretax profit for the first half to the end of September was GBP8.3 million against GBP9.6 million a year earlier. The fall in profit was driven by a downtick in revenue to GBP63.6 million from GBP65.9 million.
The group warned in August that its sales were below expectations and said it is experiencing operational issues owing to a change in the work mix. Chairman Brian Cooke said its sales to the end of July had come in below expectations
The group said an increasing concern for the company is the strength of the recovery in Europe, and said the uncertainty surrounding this means it is difficult to forecast its outlook for the rest of the year.
The company said, however, that it does expect its full-year results to meet market expectations.
Castings is paying an interim dividend of 3.22 pence per share, up from the 3.13 pence paid last year.
Shares in the company were down 2.3% to 425.00 pence on Friday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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