13th May 2019 08:09
LONDON (Alliance News) - Diploma PLC on Monday said it is "on track" for further progress after achieving a good performance in the first half of its financial year, despite seeing some slowdown in the Industrial Seals market.
Diploma shares were trading down 5.9% at 1,440.00 pence each early Monday morning.
For the six months to March 31, the FTSE 250 technical products and services provider posted pretax profit up 13% to GBP40.1 million from GBP35.4 million.
Revenue rose 11% to GBP260.4 million from GBP234.9 million.
Chief Executive Officer Johnny Thomson said: "Diploma has delivered another good performance in line with our expectations. Despite macroeconomic uncertainties, the group remains on track to deliver good growth in revenue, with modest margin progression for the full year."
He added: "Acquisitions remain an integral part of the group's growth strategy and although opportunities are very competitive, we remain optimistic about acquiring some quality businesses as the year progresses."
On the back of the positive performance, the company upped its interim payout 10% to 8.5 pence from 7.7p for the comparative period a year ago.
Looking ahead, despite some early signs of slower activity in the Industrial Seals markets, Diploma's outlook is "optimistic", with the firm stating it is on track to meet its full-year revenue and operating-profit expectations.
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