26th Jan 2017 09:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - Haynes Publishing Group PLC on Thursday reported a rise in profit for its first half, and said its financial outlook and trading performance has "significantly improved" in recent months, with growth boosted by the weak pound.
The manual publisher reported a pretax profit of GBP491,000 for the half year to the end of November, up from GBP295,000 the previous year, as revenue rose to GBP14.0 million from GBP12.2 million.
Haynes has been undertaking a restructuring programme to improve its performance, and said that this programme is progressing according to plan.
Trading for the first half was "encouraging, if somewhat mixed", with a strong performance from its HaynesPro brand in Europe and a strong publishing programme boosting its UK and European business.
Its North American and Australian business have been hit by high inventory levels and slow stock turns for its print manuals with key retailers in recent years, and this was a "key driver" of the restructuring. Haynes said it has now "significantly reduced" the cost base of these operations and is starting to make headway in these markets, but sales in both territories continued to track behind the previous year.
Haynes said it is maintaining its interim dividend at 3.5 pence per share.
Looking to its third quarter, Haynes said that trading has continued in line with the trends it saw in the first six months, and said that its overall revenue is tracking 20% ahead of the previous year.
"I am pleased to report that Haynes has significantly improved its financial outlook and trading performance in recent months and experienced like-for-like revenue and profit growth over the six month period to 30 November 2016. Whilst we have partly benefited from exchange rates, these results indicate a strong organic performance," said Chairman Eddie Bell in a statement.
Shares in Haynes were up 14% at 140.00 pence Thursday.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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