8th Apr 2014 11:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Somero Enterprises Inc Tuesday reported an increase in profit and revenue for 2013, which it attributed to strong sales due to economic recovery in the US and a "solid performance" throughout the rest of the world.
The company, which designs equipment for concrete flooring, posted pretax profit of USD6.5 million for 2013, up from USD1.2 million in 2012, as revenue rose to USD45.1 million compared with USD32.2 million a year earlier.
Overall, the firm said it saw growth in six of its ten regions, with underpinned by new products and strong sales of existing products. North America led group revenues with USD25.5 million compared with USD18.1 million - this was 56.5% of total sales, while revenues in China doubled to USD6.6 million from USD3.1 million.
Somero said new product development continue to be a driver for development of markets outside of North America, with its laser control S-15M and STS-11M products well received in Latin America and the Middle East.
On the back of the strong performance, the company declared a final dividend of 1.3 cents per share, making a total dividend for the year of 2.2 cents per share, up from 0.8 cent in 2012.
The company said its intention is to steadily increase the dividend payout ratio to 30% of net income before amortization over the next two to three years.
Financially, the company said it had net cash of USD3.4 million at the period-end compared with net debt of USD1.9 million a year earlier.
Looking ahead the firm said its customers are confident that the US recovery is "sound and we are expecting very solid growth in 2014". Recently it launched a new large reach-over-the-concrete screed and Somero said interest has been strong since its introduction in January.
Somero said its investments in Asia have resulted in a strong start in China and "with the economic recovery in Europe, we are confident that 2014 will see another year of solid growth for the company".
The stock was trading at 109.00 pence Tuesday morning, down 3.50 pence or 3.1%.
By Anthony Tshibangu; [email protected]; @AnthonyAllNews
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