11th Aug 2015 06:39
LONDON (Alliance News) - Specialty chemicals company Synthomer PLC on Tuesday said its pretax profit rose in the first half thanks to margin improvements in its North American business and a good operating performance in Asia which offset continued sluggishness in Europe and a hit the group is taking from the weak euro.
The FTSE 250-listed company said its pretax profit for the half was GBP36.8 million, up from GBP29.9 million a year earlier, despite its total sales falling to GBP468.7 million from GBP510.1 million, held back by euro weakness as volumes rose by 6.8%.
Synthomer said it made good progress in its construction and coatings, functional polymers and foam markets in the first half in Europe and North America, which helped to offset challenging paper and carpet markets in the period. The group also saw a strong operating performance in Asia and its Rest of the World region, with volumes and margins improved across all regions and markets against the first half of 2014.
The group said it will increase its interim dividend to 3.2 pence per share, up from 3.0 pence.
"Looking forward, we expect Europe and North America overall to continue at similar volumes and margins excepting the normally slower periods of August and December. In Asia and Rest of the World, we expect to continue to trade well ahead of the prior year, and broadly in line with the strong first half. Notwithstanding increased currency headwinds, overall the board's expectations for the full year remain unchanged," said Chairman Neil Johnson.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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