10th Sep 2024 14:28
(Alliance News) - Luceco PLC on Tuesday reported stronger half-year results, citing an easing of material cost inflation, as it highlighted excitement by the imminent launch of electric vehicle chargers for commercial premises.
The Telford, Shropshire-based lighting manufacturer and distributor said revenue rose 8.4% on-year in the first half of 2024 to GBP109.6 million from GBP101.1 million.
Cost of sales increased more mildly than revenue, just 1.6% to GBP64.7 million from GBP63.7 million.
Administrative costs came in 17% higher, at GBP30.1 million from GBP25.7 million.
Pretax profit jumped 40% to GBP8.7 million from GBP6.2 million.
"Following the global supply and demand imbalances during the pandemic, we entered 2024 with easing material cost inflation. So far, this has helped to mitigate the impact of elevated sea freight prices and continuing wage inflation, though the latter has been at more modest levels than we experienced in the prior year and shipping costs have eased," Luceco said.
Luceco lifted its dividend by 6.3% to 1.7 pence per share from 1.6p a year ago.
"These are strong results despite a challenging market backdrop," Chief Executive Officer John Hornby said.
Looking ahead, the company said it continued to perform in line with expectations for 2024, citing a consensus of an adjusted operating profit of GBP26.1 million, with an analyst range of GBP25.5 million to GBP26.5 million. The consensus would be 8.8% higher than GBP24.0 million reported for 2023.
"With UK interest rates easing we are hopeful that confidence in our sectors of the economy will begin to return, providing reasons to be more optimistic for 2025 and beyond," Luceco said.
It added: "Our residential electric vehicle charging business is growing strongly and we are excited by the imminent launch of electric vehicle chargers for commercial premises, as well as a home energy management system for integrating residential batteries, electric vehicle chargers, photovoltaic solar systems and heating controls."
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor
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