8th Sep 2014 09:49
LONDON (Alliance News) - Somero Enterprises Inc Monday expressed confidence of seeing "another strong year of growth ahead of current market expectations," as it saw its pretax profit rise in the half-year to the end of June.
Somero produces laser guided equipment to spread and level concrete flooring for the commercial construction industry.
The company proposed an interim dividend of USD1.5 cents per share.
Somero posted a pretax profit of USD6.4 million, up from USD1.9 million, as revenue rose to USD29.5 million from USD21.0 million.
In North America, the company saw stronger than expected growth in the US and Canada, despite extreme weather conditions on the East Cost hitting sales. It expects sales on the East Coast to be strong in the second-half of the year, with a continued increase in sales within the Central US.
In China, revenue growth was also ahead of expectations, boosted by a strong performance for refurbished equipment and part sales.
In Europe the company began to see a gradual upturn in sales and parts interest during the first-half, and it expects this to continue into the second-half as economic indicators show some improvement.
The company said that investment in certain incremental sales and personnel costs will hit its reported net operating margin in the second-half, however, continued good trading in August bolsters its confidence in its full-year results.
"Trading continues to be encouraging, and I am very pleased that the Company can now invest in measures aimed at supporting growth into the medium and longer term, as well as in 2014," said Chief Executive Officer Jack Cooney in a statement.
Shares in Somero were trading up 5.7% at 130.00 pence per share Monday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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