4th Jun 2019 11:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - Driver Group PLC on Tuesday said it expects its performance to improve in the reminder of the year after reporting a fall in both revenue and profit in the first half.
The stock was 14% lower in morning trade at 52.24 pence a share.
The engineering services company reported a pretax profit of GBP1.0 million for the six months to the end of March, down 42% compared to GBP1.7 million profit reported a year prior, as revenue declined by 6.3% to GBP29.7 million from GBP31.7 million.
Geographically, revenue in Europe & Americas increased by 4.2% to GBP14.9 million, while revenue in Middle East and Asia Pacific decreased by 14% to GBP10.3 million and 17% to GBP4.5 million, respectively.
Driver Group declared an interim payout of 0.5 pence a share compared to none paid the year before, reflecting the company's confidence in its medium term prospects.
"Although the first half of 2019 has seen lower activity than expected in some markets we have reacted quickly to re-align the cost base of underperforming businesses in the first half and with enquiry rates at high levels the group is well placed to record good progress for the remainder of the current financial year," said Chair Steve Norris.
Related Shares:
DRV.L