2nd Mar 2016 09:41
LONDON (Alliance News) - Nichols PLC on Wednesday reported a rise in profit in 2015 as international sales growth offset a revenue decline in the UK, amid a "challenging grocery market".
The soft drinks group, which owns Vimto, Sunkist and Panda, said its pretax profit in 2015 grew to GBP28.0 million from GBP17.9 million in 2014, as revenue rose very slightly by 0.1% to GBP109.3 million from GBP109.2 million.
Pretax profit grew ahead of revenue as the prior year booked exceptional items of GBP7.8 million. Excluding exceptional costs, 2014 pretax profit was GBP25.7 million.
Revenue in the UK fell slightly by 0.3% amid ongoing challenges in the grocery market, Nichols said, while international sales increased by 1.5%.
Nichols will pay a final dividend of 17.6 pence, up from 15.3p the year before, leading to a total dividend of 25.6p for the year, an increase of 14% on the prior year's 22.4p.
"Underpinned by the strengths of our brands, people and business model the board looks forward with confidence to the year ahead," Non-Executive Chairman John Nichols said in a statement.
Shares in Nichols were trading up 4.8% at 1,310.00 pence on Wednesday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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