25th Nov 2015 07:35
LONDON (Alliance News) - Plastic packaging company RPC Group PLC on Wednesday declared an 18% improvement to its interim dividend following a rise in pretax profit in the first half, driven by much higher revenue derived from organic growth and acquisitions.
The FTSE 250-listed company, which makes a range of plastic containers and packaging products, said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of September was GBP40.5 million, up from GBP34.9 million a year earlier.
Revenue for the period rose 36%, up to GBP799.8 million from GBP588.9 million, with 4.0% like-for-like growth in its existing packaging business and the rest coming from the contribution made by acquisitions. The main acquisition made in the period was Promens, an Icelandic rigid plastic packaging and components company that RPC bought in November 2014 for EUR386.0 million.
RPC said it will pay an interim dividend of 5.2 pence per share, up from the 4.4p it paid out a year earlier.
"The performance in the first half year has been encouraging, certainly when taking into account the polymer time lag and foreign exchange translation headwinds. The second half year has started in line with management expectations, with further trading improvements expected as polymer prices ease and additional Promens-related synergies are realised," said Pim Vervaat, RPC's chief executive.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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