13th Jun 2014 08:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - Building material company Ensor Holdings PLC Friday reported a fall in profit and revenue in its most recent financial year, after it said one of its businesses was held back by a slow pick-up in orders earlier in the year.
The company raised its dividend for the year ended March 31 by 25% to 1.0 pence, from 0.8 pence the prior year, despite pretax profit falling to GBP1.5 million from GBP1.9 million a year earlier.
Revenue for the year fell by 1.4% to GBP30.6 million from GBP31.0 million, which it said was due to a slow pick-up in orders in its Technocover business.
In the group's half-year results, it said that trading in the first half was hit by a slow start to capital expenditure by UK water utilities, a significant market for one of its Technocover subsidiary.
"I anticipated that the benefits of a strong order book at Technocover would come through progressively in the second half, but principally in the results for next year. This has been the case and a confident start to the new financial year is beginning to bear this out," said Chairman Kenneth Harrison in a statement.
In the year ahead, the company said it is cautiously predicting a more active market, and it feels well placed to take advantage of the additional opportunities that may bring.
"The construction industry, in which our subsidiaries - Ellard, Ensor Building Products, OSA and
Technocover operate - is showing encouraging signs of growth. The retail sector, supplied by Woods Packaging, is also buoyant and we are encouraged by our forecasts," said Harrison.
During the financial year just ended, Ensor sold two of its businesses, CMS Tools Ltd and SRC.
Ensor shares were down 7.6% at 67.45 pence Friday morning.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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