25th Mar 2020 13:17
(Alliance News) - Building products manufacturer Epwin Group PLC on Wednesday announced a temporary closure of its manufacturing sites in anticipation of reduced demand due to the virus pandemic and said that it will be "imprudent" to declare a dividend payment for 2019.
The Solihull, England-based company also said that it is focused on reducing costs, including the deferral of capital expenditure and tax payments. Epwin also intends to make use of the UK's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme grants as far as it is able, in order to maximise its liquidity.
Epwin plans to restart the business and dividend payments as soon as it is practical to do so. It has drawn down fully on its GBP65 million revolving credit facility.
The company has decided to delay the release of its 2019 results due to the Financial Conduct Authority's request of a delay for at least two weeks.
Epwin, in line with its previous guidance, anticipates 2019 underlying operating profit to be within the range of market expectations at around GBP19.1 million versus GBP18.7 million a year ago. Revenue is estimated at GBP282.1 million versus GBP281.1 million.
The company's year-to-date trading was slightly ahead of the board's expectations, however, closure of activities is estimated to have a "material" impact on 2020 performance. It has decided against provided a guidance for 2020.
Jon Bednall, chief executive, said: "We think it's the right thing to pause our operations this week in line with many other businesses and we are focussed on taking actions to protect the business and enhance our liquidity to withstand this period of uncertainty".
Shares in Epwin were up 0.4% at 62.88 pence each in London on Wednesday afternoon.
By Tapan Panchal; [email protected]
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Epwin Grp