2nd Dec 2015 10:08
LONDON (Alliance News) - A significant improvement in gross margins in the first half helped Coral Products PLC to post a big rise in pretax profit, the company said on Wednesday, despite revenue ticking lower amid tough market conditions.
Coral, which makes injection-moulded plastic products, said its pretax profit for the half to the end of October was GBP684,000, up from GBP291,000 a year earlier, as its gross margin improved to 34.5% from 24.6% and operating margins were boosted by reduce costs.
That helped the group offset a decline in revenue, down to GBP8.3 million from GBP9.1 million, hit by a decline in media product sales which was only partially offset by better performance in its other divisions.
Still, thanks to the better profit, Coral hiked its dividend by 50% to 0.30 pence from 0.20p.
Coral said it expects to make further progress over the balance of the financial year, despite the difficult conditions facing the manufacturing sector.
"I am pleased to report that the group has continued to make good progress during the first half of this financial year with trading in line with expectations," said Chairman Joe Grimmond.
"With a good order book and a strong pipeline of opportunities, the group's performance for the current year to date remains in line with market expectations," he added.
Coral Products shares were up 10% to 22.00p on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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