31st Jul 2019 12:20
(Alliance News) - Hargreaves Services PLC on Wednesday swung to a loss in its most recently ended financial year, terming the period as a "challenging" one.
The stock was 17% higher in midday trade in London at 264.00p each.
The materials handling and logistics services provider swung to a pretax loss of GBP9.9 million in the year to the end of May compared to GBP488,000 profit reported a year earlier. Gross profit dropped by more than a half to GBP16.7 million from GBP30.4 million.
Revenue, meanwhile, grew slightly by 1.9% to GBP302.6 million from GBP297.1 million year-on-year, due to growth in Industrial Services and in Specialist Earthworks, partially offset by lower revenue in Production & Distribution.
Hargreaves declared a final dividend of 4.5p a share, unchanged compared to the prior year's payout. Total dividend also remained flat at 7.2p.
Looking ahead, the company said the uncertainty of the final outcome to the Brexit discussions continues. Hargreaves has very little trading activity with any country within the EU, it noted, consequently, it expects no material direct impact on the company's trading activities whatever the final Brexit outcome may be.
"In what has been a challenging year, the group has made progress towards its strategic objectives. The group's property business, Hargreaves Land, has gained further momentum and, by extracting capital from our UK mining activities, its growth can be accelerated," said Chair Roger McDowell.
He added: "The board anticipates progress through the next financial year."
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