1st Aug 2024 12:33
(Alliance News) - Elementis PLC on Thursday said it expects its 2024 performance to be "slightly above" the top end of the current range of market expectations, following a strong first half.
Elementis is a chemicals company based in London. It manufactures ingredients for consumer and industrial products for a variety of industries.
Elementis reported a 5.2% increase in revenue to USD382.6 million for the six months that ended June 30 from USD363.8 million a year before.
However, it swung to a pretax loss of USD25.8 million from a USD34.9 million profit a year before. Administrative costs more than doubled to USD114.8 million for the half from USD41.9 million a year before. These costs were driven by an asset impairment, Elementis said.
Elementis announced an interim dividend of 1.1 cents. It did not pay a dividend in 2023.
Elementis shares were up 2.5% to 163.80 pence per share in London on Thursday morning.
Looking ahead, the firm said it plans to upgrade its profit expectations for the full year and remains confident in delivering its targets for 2026. It expects an adjusted operating profit of USD118 million for 2024, at the top end of current market expectations of between USD115 million to USD120 million. This will be up from USD103.9 million in 2023.
Chief Executive Officer Paul Waterman commented: "Elementis delivered a strong first half performance, reflecting both continued strategic progress and the benefits of self-help actions. We delivered a much-improved operating margin of 17%, which takes us significantly closer to our 2026 target of 19% [and above] and demonstrates the progress we are making as a high quality, high value specialty additives business."
By Lydia Doye, Alliance News reporter
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