5th Jun 2014 07:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - Johnson Matthey PLC Thursday raised its dividend and said pretax profit increased in its recent full year, as revenues from its Emission Control Technologies and Process Technologies divisions drove growth.
The multinational chemicals and precious metals company said its pretax profit jumped 17% to GBP406.6 million for the twelve months ended March 31 from GBP348.6 million the previous year, as revenues increased 4.0% to GBP11.16 billion from GBP10.73 billion.
The company said revenues benefited in particular from improvements at the company's Emission Control Technologies division, which outperformed the underlying growth rate in many of its markets, with revenues up 17% to GBP3.00 billion from GBP2.56 billion and underlying operating profit 25% higher. The division saw continued growth in Asia, along with improved product mix and good performance in heavy duty diesel catalysts in Europe.
Johnson Matthey said its Process Technologies operations also grew strongly, helped by its acquisition of Formox AB in 2013, increasing its revenues by 13% to GBP580 million from GBP515 million with underlying operating profit up 10%.
The company proposed a final dividend of 45.5 pence, resulting in a full-year dividend increase of 10% to 62.5 pence per share.
However, the company did note higher cost of sales, distribution costs, administrative expenses, amortisation charges and finance costs, which limited the improvement to its results
It said its Precious Metal Products sales were in line with last year's figures as it was impacted by changes in its long-term contracts with Anglo American Platinum Ltd, a subsidiary of Anglo American PLC, which is currently struggling with over four months of strike action in South Africa.
Johnson Matthey added that in 2014/15 its growth will be hurt by foreign exchange rates and the impact of its loss of commission revenue from Anglo American Platinum. It said that it expects group performance in 2014/15 to be broadly in line with its 2013/14 figures.
The news comes as its long standing Chief Executive Neil Carson steps down from the company on Thursday after a decade at the helm of the company. He will remain on the board until September to help ensure a smooth handover.
"As I step down today, I am confident that, as a world leading speciality chemicals company, Johnson Matthey is well positioned to deliver long term growth for its shareholders through the creation of value adding sustainable technologies," Carson said in a statement.
Johnson Matthey shares were off 1.0% at 3,227.00 pence early Thursday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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