9th Sep 2025 10:36
(Alliance News) - Midwich Group PLC on Tuesday slashed its dividend as it reported reduced sales and a half-year loss, in "challenging" markets.
The Norfolk-based audiovisual technology company swung to a pretax loss of GBP3.0 million in the six months to June 30 from GBP10.1 million profit the year prior. Basic losses per share totalled 2.42 pence compared to EPS of 6.50p a year ago.
Revenue dropped 4.3% to GBP620.3 million from GBP648.5 million, or by 2.3% at constant currency, largely due to softness in the German market. Group revenue was in line with the prior year excluding Germany, Midwich added.
Managing Director Stephen Fenby said: "The first half of 2025 has been challenging for our industry, with education and corporate expenditure suppressed due to several factors such as high government debt, low or negative GDP growth and tariff uncertainty. As a result, we have seen reduced demand and price erosion of mainstream products which has contributed to compressed net margins."
The firm highlighted a "return to growth" in the UK & Ireland due to market share gains and new vendors, despite challenging market conditions continuing. It said performance in Germany is expected to improve from 2026.
Midwich delivered what it called a "robust" gross profit margin but it was nonetheless lower year-on-year at 17.7%, down from 18.0%.
The interim dividend was slashed to 1.75p from 5.5p. The company said this reflects a reduced expected payout ratio of around 25% of EPS, with retained cash being used for growth initiatives in the business.
Shares in the firm were up 1.0% at 204.00p each in London on Tuesday morning.
Looking ahead, Midwich reported a positive start to the second half, and it continues to expect organic sales growth in the second half of 2025.
The firm continues to monitor prospective acquisition opportunities, but will seek to more actively resume acquisitions from 2026.
It continues to assume general macroeconomic conditions will remain "challenging" for the remainder of 2025 but full year expectations remain unchanged.
By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter
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