19th May 2014 08:12
LONDON (Alliance News) - Somero Enterprises Inc Monday said financial results for the year-to-date are now considerably ahead of last year, and said it is "highly likely" to deliver results ahead of current market expectation for the current financial year if the favourable conditions continue.
The company, which designs equipment for concrete flooring, said that results so far were boosted by a strong trading performance in March and April, particularly in North America, which accounted for over half of the group's sales in 2013.
Somero Enterprises shares were trading 6.8% higher at 106.31 pence Monday morning.
"Trading in North America...is unusually strong at the moment, possibly reflecting some catch up from the beginning of the year but also our clients investing in their equipment capacity as the key annual construction work period gets underway," the company said in its annual general meeting statement to shareholders Monday.
Somero said that sales at the beginning of the year were held back by extreme weather conditions in North America in February, as US snow storms spread across the region.
In 2013, Somero posted a pretax profit of USD6.5 million, up from USD1.2 million in 2012, as revenue rose to USD45.1 million compared with USD32.2 million a year earlier, underpinned by new products and strong sales of existing products.
Somero said Monday that the regions Europe, Scandinavia and Australasia have performed well since the start of its new financial year, while investments made in China and India on training, sales and market capabilities, have helped drive strong sales growth in those regions.
However, the group said that sales in South America have been undermined by currency exchange rates, while revenues in Russia have been hit by political unrest in the Ukrainian region as well as a rise in interest rates.
"Overall, although we are still at an early stage in the year, we are experiencing strong trading and increasing confidence across the broad majority of our client base," the company said.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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