15th Jun 2016 06:41
LONDON (Alliance News) - Structural steel company Severfield PLC on Wednesday said it swung to a pretax profit thanks to one-offs not recurring in the financial year to the end of March, while underlying profit was robust, resulting in a tripling of its payout to shareholders.
Pretax profit for the year to March 31 was GBP9.6 million, compared to a GBP191,000 loss booked a year earlier, which had been primarily due to writedowns booked on unprofitable contracts. Underlying pretax profit, which strips out the exceptional items, was up to GBP13.2 million from GBP8.3 million.
Severfield revenue grew to GBP239.4 million from GBP201.5 million, a 19% rise year-on-year, and this was complemented by improving margins due to changes made to simplify Severfield's operations in recent years. The group worked on more than 120 projects in the year, with good performances in its core construction markets, including office developments, warehouses and stadia, and solid trading in the transport sector.
Severfield said its UK order book at the end of March was at GBP270.0 million, significantly up on the GBP185.0 million reported at the beginning of November 2015, while its India order book was broadly stable at GBP33.0 million.
The group said it will pay a 1.0 pence per share final dividend, meaning its total dividend jumps to 1.5p from 0.5p the year earlier.
"With the current UK order book at its highest level for over six years and a continued stable market environment, the group is well placed to continue delivering against its near-term financial targets whilst continuing to build for the longer term. Overall the outlook remains encouragingly positive," said Ian Lawson, Severfield's chief executive.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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