1st Feb 2021 11:35
(Alliance News) - Porvair PLC on Monday reported a lower profit for its recently ended financial year, as revenue dropped on constrained supply and a fall in order volumes due to lockdowns.
For the financial year to the end of November 30, the Norfolk-based filtration and environmental technology firm's pretax profit dropped by 17% to GBP11.6 million from GBP14.0 million the year before.
This was on revenue that dropped by 6.8% year-on-year to GBP135.0 million from GBP144.9 million. All of Porvair's businesses reported a weaker performance, starting with Aerospace & Industrial, which fell by 4% to GBP62.0 million.
This was on long order lead times in the aerospace supply chain, and an overall weakness in the aerospace industry.
Laboratory revenue was also down 4% at GBP42.0 million, with demand crippled by Covid-19 related shutdown of environmental, academic and industrial laboratories.
Porvair declared a final dividend of 3.3 pence per share, lifting the total payout to 5.0p, up 2.0% from 4.9% the year before.
Looking ahead, Porvair expects demand for emissions control, clean water, process efficiency and laboratory consumables to return to normal levels as economies allow, however the group admits that some, such as aerospace will take time to recover, while the Laboratory division is already rebounding strongly.
"We entered 2021 with a strong balance sheet and a lower cost base than a year ago, which will be helpful while we wait for vaccinations to bring the pandemic under control. The next few months may continue to be difficult, but beyond that we are increasingly optimistic. Investments made over the last few years will help margins and our new product development pipeline is strong for the near term. Prospects for the medium term are good and Porvair should return to its historical levels of growth once the pandemic retreats," said Chief Executive Ben Stocks.
Shares in Porvair were down 4.4% at 529.64 pence on Monday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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