24th Sep 2020 09:20
(Alliance News) - SIG PLC on Thursday said it will not be paying an interim dividend and expects the second half of 2020 to remain loss-making, but says long-term fundamentals remain sound.
The supplier of insulation, roofing, commercial interiors and specialist construction products swung to a pretax loss in the six months ended June 30 of GBP125.4 million from a GBP2.2 million profit a year prior.
Revenue was down 24% to GBP840.1 million from GBP1.11 billion a year before.
Chief Executive Steve Francis said: "Trading was better than anticipated during the peak lockdown months of March to May, compared to our initial estimates of the possible Covid-19 impact, and the board now expects full year sales to be moderately higher than guided in May.
"Group sales in July and August were encouraging although down year on year, and market share losses during 2019, particularly in the UK distribution business, will take time to recover."
The company did not declare an interim dividend, down from 1.25 pence per share a year before.
Francis said: "Long-term fundamentals remain sound in the group's markets across Europe. In the short term, significant economic uncertainty remains in all of our markets, although government stimulus for the construction sector, notably in the UK, is welcome."
"The second half of 2020 is expected to remain loss making, but at a lower rate than the first despite some increased pressure on gross margin in the UK," he added.
SIG shares were down 9.1% at 24.35 pence each on Thursday morning in London.
By Greg Roxburgh; [email protected]
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