23rd Feb 2016 07:59
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ceramic products manufacturer Morgan Advanced Materials PLC on Tuesday said its pretax profit pushed higher in 2015 due to lower one-off charges, but its underlying profit and revenue both fell amid tough market conditions.
Pretax profit for the year was up to GBP59.0 million from GBP31.5 million, mostly as a result of it booking a GBP22.1 million one-off charge in its results in 2015, compared to GBP51.9 million a year earlier.
Its underlying pretax profit, however, stripping out the one-off items, fell to GBP88.2 million from GBP91.6 million as its revenue dipped to GBP911.8 million from GBP921.7 million.
The group was contending with a tough trading environment in the year, with revenue declining in its North American operations and weakening through the course of the year in Europe. Its Asia and Rest of the World division also experienced difficulties, hit by slowing activity in China.
Morgan said it would pay a flat final dividend of 7.0 pence per share, taking its total dividend to 11.0p, up from 10.9p.
"Whilst 2015 has been a very challenging year for the business, with sharp slowdowns in a number of our markets, we have delivered a solid set of results. We are planning prudently for 2016 in a market where we take a cautious view of trading conditions, with a focus on increasing our efficiency and reinvesting in the business," said Chief Executive Pete Raby.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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