30th Jul 2019 10:17
(Alliance News) - Low & Bonar PLC axed its interim dividend Tuesday after losses deepened amid lower revenue following another "extremely challenging" period for the technical textiles maker.
Shares in Low & Bonar were 17% lower at 8.10 pence in London on Tuesday.
For the six months ended May, the pretax loss widened to GBP41.7 million from GBP12.3 million the year prior. This was after revenue fell 9.3% to GBP157.9 million from GBP174.1 million the year before.
Profit performance was particularly hurt by a sharp jump in impairments related to its Coated Technical Textiles business. Impairments rose to GBP31.3 million from GBP13.3 million the year prior.
This was after the CTT unit experienced results "significantly below" expectations.
"The first half of 2019 has been another extremely challenging period for Low & Bonar," Executive Chair Daniel Dayan said.
"As a result of the group's poor performance, I was appointed executive chair at the beginning of July, temporarily combining the roles of chair and chief executive," Dayan added. "Our priorities remain unchanged, which are to transform the group's operational performance and ensure a strong and sustainable financial position."
Low & Bonar axed its interim dividend, after paying 1.05 pence per share the year prior.
"Progress has been made, notably through the equity raise, the development and implementation of projects to improve facilities at Asheville and at CTT, the resolution of CTT's quality problems and the disposal of Civil Engineering," Dayan continued.
"Whilst this performance improvement plan is being implemented, the board remains focused on maximising shareholder value and will consider all strategic options."