5th Mar 2019 09:47
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 250-listed chemicals maker Elementis PLC said Tuesday it delivered "good" results in tough markets, with profit held back by exceptional costs despite revenue rising.
In 2018, pretax profit narrowed 17% to USD65.4 million from USD78.5 million the year prior. This was despite revenue rising 5.0% to USD822.2 million from USD782.7 million the year before.
Profit performance was hurt by a rise in exceptional costs to USD57.5 million from USD30.9 million the year prior. This was primarily related to a sharp rise in acquisition-related costs as well as a USD16.5 million increase in environmental remedial work provisions and a USD9.5 million charge related to its surfactants commercial settlement.
Adjusted pretax profit - excluding exceptional costs - widened 2.7% to USD113 million from USD110 million the year prior.
"Elementis delivered good overall results for 2018 in a challenging operating environment," Elementis Chief Executive Officer Paul Waterman said.
Elementis proposed a 5.70 US cent final dividend per share, down 6.6% from the 6.10 cents reported the year prior. For the full year, the dividend fell 1.7% to 8.65 cents from 8.80 cents the year before.
The dividend had been rebased following the rights issue to help fund the Mondo deal. After adjusting for this, the dividend rose 4.3% to 8.40 cents from 8.05 cents the year prior.
"The acquisition of Mondo in 2018 is a major step to further improve the quality of our portfolio", Waterman added. "Elementis today is increasingly focused on three highly profitable businesses of scale in Personal Care, Coatings and Talc that each have attractive growth prospects."
In September, Elementis agreed to buy Dutch industrial talc mineral additive firm Mondo Minerals Holding BV for USD553 million.
"In 2019, whilst global market conditions remain challenging, particularly in coatings, we will seek to capture synergies as we integrate Mondo, transform Coatings and grow Personal Care," Waterman continued. "This will reduce leverage via the group's inherently strong cash generation. We are confident of making further progress in the year ahead and over the longer term."
Shares in Elementis were 0.6% lower at 176.00 pence on Tuesday.
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