11th Feb 2015 09:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Housebuilding protective equipment company Latchways PLC Wednesday said it expects its full year results for the financial year to end-March to be in line with current market expectations.
The company said that trading conditions in the second half have remained similar to the first half of the year, when it posted a decline in first-half pretax profit, in what it called a "disappointing period", as strong growth in Latin America was more than offset by weakness in European markets. It also faced setbacks in North America and the offshore wind energy market.
"Our traditional installer based business is performing well in the UK and Latin America, whilst the Eurozone continues to present challenges," the company said in a statement Wednesday.
Latchways said that costs will increase in the next financial year as it invests in more sales staff, but reassured that it is confident those higher costs will be outweighed by the revenue generated.
"We also expect the greater market coverage that these investments will provide to improve our business pipeline and thus our visibility of revenues in due course," it said.
Latchways also said that de-stocking issues from its largest US customers and some project delays are now being "resolved" and it expects the projects to generate "incremental" business in the coming year.
"We look forward to the 2015-16 financial year with renewed confidence in our ability to restore the business to growth. Cash flows remain robust enabling us to continue to invest in the future of the business," the company added.
The company said it will release its full year results in June.
Latchways shares were up 0.3% at 719.55 pence Wednesday morning.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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