17th Mar 2016 08:34
LONDON (Alliance News) - Safestyle UK PLC on Thursday reported a rise in pretax profit for 2015 on the back of higher revenue, and said it was paying a special dividend as its "cash resources are materially in excess of investment requirements".
The window and door replacement company posted a pretax profit of GBP17.6 million for the year ended December 31, up 7.4% from GBP16.4 million in 2014, with revenue up 9.5% at GBP148.9 million from GBP136.0 million.
Safestyle said it will be paying a special dividend of 6.8 pence per share, as its cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year had almost doubled, at GBP16.5 million from GBP8.5 million. Safestyle said this will be paid alongside its final dividend of 6.8 pence per share, up from 6.2 pence in 2014. Its full-year dividend will be 10.2 pence per share, compared to 9.3 pence a year earlier.
Safestyle said its gross profit margin improved slightly to 36.6% for 2015 from 36.5%, driven by a higher average sales price and a continued reduction of sales being generates by canvass door operations.
However, margin expansion was held back by investments in the company's consumer finance offering, which it said has resulted in a "significant step up" in order intake and was a key driver for revenue growth.
As such, its gross margin stood at 37.2% in the first half and 36.0% in the second half.
Safestyle reported a 5.4% increase in average unit sales price, a 4.4% growth in the volume of frames installed and order value generated from direct response channels up 32%.
"During 2015 we continued our geographic expansion by opening three new sales branches, added conservatory upgrades to our product range and introduced an improved suite of promotional consumer finance options," Chief Executive Steve Birmingham said.
"In the current financial year, so far, order intake has been very strong giving us the confidence that we will maintain our successful progress in the year ahead," Birmingham added.
Shares in Safestyle were up 5.2% at 282.58p on Thursday morning.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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