11th Nov 2013 09:29
LONDON (Alliance News) - Morgan Advanced Materials PLC Monday said its order book remains stable, as trading since the end of the first half has been in line with expectations.
In an interim management statement for the period July 1 to November 10, the company said revenue in the second half reflected the first on a constant currency basis, while earnings before interest, taxation and amortisation (EBITA) margins continued to improve due to "self-help initiatives".
Since the first half, Morgan said sterling strengthened against most of the currencies in which it trades and said "if these present exchange rates remain through to year end the translational effect would reduce reported revenue and EBITA for the full year by 3-4%."
Morgan supplies carbon and ceramic products to a number of industries including energy, petrochemical, transportation and healthcare and has attempted to unify the company under "One Morgan" business.
It said the new "One Morgan" organisation structure and restructuring actions are proceeding to plan with the full GBP10 million of benefits the group expected to achieve coming through this year. The costs of these actions are now estimated to be around GBP11 million for the full year, it said.
One of the key strategies of the group has been to reshape its portfolio, focusing on higher growth and higher margin markets.
"As part of the changes made to the group during the course of this year, a strategic review of the portfolio is on-going and has identified a range of exit and/or sale initiatives across a number of smaller product/technology and end market areas," the company said.
Morgan is now looking to accelerate its portfolio reshaping through a combination of these initiatives.
As a consequence of the review, Morgan expects to sell or exit around GBP20 million of revenue over the coming months of loss-making or breakeven activities.
The non-cash write offs of this are expected to be around GBP13 million in 2013.
Geographically the company said trading conditions have remained similar to the first half of the year in North America, Europe and Asia.
The stock was trading at 288.70 pence, down 7.20 pence or 2.4%.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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