28th Feb 2019 09:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Genus PLC on Thursday said it swung to a loss in the first half of the financial year due to non-cash pension scheme charges.
Shares in the animal genetics firm were down 0.9% at 2,180.00 pence.
For the six months to the end of 2018, the company posted a pretax loss of GBP6.8 million compared to a GBP14.3 million profit in the same period a year ago.
On an adjusted basis, pretax profit was GBP29.2 million, slightly higher than the previous year's GBP29.0 million.
The loss was mainly due to larger non-cash fair value movements on biological assets and a GBP15.7 million Guaranteed Minimum Pension equalisation charge in respect of legacy pension schemes, the company explained.
Revenue for the half was flat at GBP238.8 million.
Looking at the rest of the year, Genus said it expects to perform in line with the board's annual views.
Genus upped its interim dividend per share by 10% to 8.9p from 8.1p proposed to shareholders a year ago.
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