5th Mar 2026 14:06
(Alliance News) - FW Thorpe PLC on Thursday declared a special dividend on the back of profit growth, but flagged expectations of a challenging backdrop in the second half.
For the six months ended in December, the Redditch-based lighting systems maker booked pretax profit of GBP11.6 million, up 3.1% from GBP11.2 million in the first half of 2024.
Revenue, however, fell 2.4% to GBP81.7 million from GBP83.8 million.
FW Thorpe's largest unit, Thorlux, which makes professional lighting systems for industrial, commercial and controls markets, suffered slower sales in Germany, bringing the unit's revenue down to GBP46.6 million from GBP48.8 million.
Sales for the Dutch division edged up to GBP17.2 million from GBP16.7 million. Zemper, the Spain-based segment which specialises in emergency lighting, enjoyed revenue growth to GBP11.1 million from GBP10.2 million.
Basic earnings per share rose slightly to 7.86 pence from 7.65p on-year, leading FW Thorpe to raise its interim dividend by 2.8% to 1.81p from 1.76p.
In addition, the company declared a special dividend of 2.60p per share, up from none the year prior.
FW Thorpe shares were down 1.9% at 269.80 pence on Thursday afternoon in London.
Chair Mike Allcock said: "With so many markets suffering challenging trading conditions, substantiated by the board's own market investigations of European listed peers and major lighting components suppliers, the outlook for growth for the second half remains a challenge, especially considering the strong second half achieved in 2024/25. All companies are targeted for growth, but each has its own slightly different set of circumstances to manage."
By Holly Munks, Alliance News reporter
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