9th Jun 2015 06:46
LONDON (Alliance News) - RPC Group PLC Tuesday reported higher profits and earnings for its last financial year, helped by acquisitions, and said the current year has got off to a satisfactory start despite adverse exchange rate movements and a time lag in passing through higher polymer prices.
The plastic products designer and maker reported a pretax profit for the year to March 31 of GBP67.1 million, up from GBP59.0 million a year earlier, as revenue increased to GBP1.22 billion from GBP1.05 billion. Its closely-watched pretax profit excluding restructuring, impairment charges exceptional items rose to GBP119.0 million from GBP89.5 million.
It raised its full-year dividend to 15.4 pence from 13.8p.
RPC has started a growth plan under which it is aiming to grow organically in selected areas of the packaging markets, partake in the consolidation of the European packaging market by making acquisitions, and to grow in markets outside Europe where growth rates are higher.
It said organic growth was "good" despite the continued subdued economic activity in Europe, with underlying sales from continuing operations up 4% on the year.
It bought Promens in Europe during the year, and said the estimated steady state cost synergies from the combination are now expected to be EUR30 million a year.
RPC's expansion outside Europe also continued, as it bought Ace Corp in Hong King last June, while the Promens buy also added operations in Canada, Russia, Tunisia, India and China.
"We have made further progress in implementing the Vision 2020 strategy with additional platforms for growth established in Asia, North America, Africa and Europe. The integration of Promens is progressing well and the Group continues to explore further opportunities for growth. Despite the currency translation headwinds and the adverse impact from the time lag in passing through higher polymer prices, the start to the new financial year has been satisfactory and in line with management's expectations," Chief Executive Pim Vervaat said in a statement.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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