27th Jan 2014 10:03
LONDON (Alliance News) - Colefax Group PLC Monday reported a 72% increase pretax profit for the six months ended October 31, 2013, boosted by a 15% increase in sales driven by its decorating division.
Signalling its confidence, the furnishing fabrics and wallpaper designer and distributor increased its interim dividend by 5% to 2.00 pence per share, and proposed a tender offer to return GBP4.4 million of cash to shareholders by buying back 9% of the share capital of the company.
The group reported a pretax profit for the six month period of GBP3.07 million, up 72% from GBP1.79 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were up 93% to 17.0 pence.
Revenues rose 15% to GBP39.17 million in the first half, up from GBP34.04 million a year earlier. It said that increase was driven by a strong performance from its decorating division, and also partly due to the timing of contracts.
"A significant factor behind the increase in group profits for the first six months was an improved performance from the Decorating Division, which made an operating profit of GBP365,000 compared to an interim loss of GBP393,000 last year, partly reflecting timing differences in the completion of decorating projects," said Chairman David Green in a statement.
Colefax said its core fabric division, which represents 84% of the group's sales, saw sales increase 7% on a constant currency basis, mainly due to the ongoing recovery in the US market and a better than expected improvement in the UK market.
Colefax said the trends seen in the first half of the year have continued into the second half. However the group adopted a cautious outlook.
"We are optimistic about the recovery in the US and the UK but, in Europe, we expect trading to remain challenging for at least the remainder of the year," said Green.
The group ended the half year with net cash of GBP7.58 million, up from GBP5.59 million a year earlier.
Colefax shares were amongst the biggest London gainers Monday morning, up 15% trading at 404.85 pence per share.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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