8th Mar 2016 09:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - Finnish packaging company Powerflute Oyj on Tuesday doubled its dividend payout after the acquisition of cores and coreboard producer Corenso resulted in a big rise in profit and revenue in 2015.
Powerflute's pretax profit for the year to the end of December surged to EUR37.7 million, up from EUR8.6 million in 2014, driven by the inclusion of Corenso, which it acquired from Finnish pulp and paper manufacturer Stora Enso Oyj in an EUR81 million deal in 2014, along with a good underlying performance and benefits from the weak euro.
Revenue rose to EUR357.2 million from EUR150.1 million, with the Corenso contribution accompanied by strong underlying performances in Powerflute's coreboard and cores business and its packaging papers products.
The huge rise in profit prompted the group to double its dividend payout to 3.0 euro cents from 1.50 cents a year earlier.
"Although we benefited significantly from favourable market conditions and foreign exchange rates throughout the year, our executive management teams have once again delivered improvement in the underlying operating performance across the group," said Chairman Dermot Smurfit.
"Despite some recent softening of market conditions, both coreboard and cores and packaging papers currently have satisfactory forward order books at price levels comparable with the prior year. In the absence of any marked change in the external environment, we currently expect that 2016 will be another successful year for the group," he added.
Powerflute shares were up 1.1% to 84.00 pence on Tuesday morning.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
POWR.L