23rd Jul 2019 10:58
(Alliance News) - Colefax PLC on Tuesday reported strong annual profit growth, driven by its Decorating division, despite a difficult trading environment.
Colefax designs and distributes furnishing fabrics and wallpapers, and also has an interior decorating business.
Pretax profit for the year to April 30 was GBP5.1 million, rising 8.0% year-on-year, with sales rising 0.4% to GBP86.4 million.
Sales in Colefax's Fabric division were flat at GBP71.2 million, with sales down in all of the US, UK, and Europe. Decorating sales climbed 1.4% to GBP12.5 million, with a number of major projects finishing during the year.
Colefax is paying a final dividend of 2.70 pence per share, taking the total for the year to 5.20p, 4% higher than the 5.00p returned year-on-year.
Chief Executive David Green said: "During the last year we experienced increasingly challenging trading conditions in most of our major markets. This trend has continued in the first twelve weeks of the current year and we expect trading to remain difficult.
"Our Decorating division delivered an exceptional performance due to the completion of several significant contracts and we expect activity to return to more normal levels this year."
"The group has a strong balance sheet with net cash of GBP9.5 million and we believe we are well placed to take advantage of any improvement in trading conditions in our major markets," Green added.
Shares were untraded on Tuesday morning in London, last quoted at 510.00 pence each.
Related Shares:
Colefax Grp.