4th Mar 2019 08:06
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 250-listed aerospace and defence engineer Senior PLC hiked its final dividend Monday after profit expanded amid wider margins and higher revenue, with the order book also reported as "strong".
In 2018, pretax profit rose 17% to GBP61.3 million from GBP52.2 million the year prior, as revenue rose 5.9% to GBP1.08 billion from GBP1.02 billion the year before.
Excluding one-off charges, including those related to acquisitions, pension charges and lawsuits, adjusted pretax profit climbed 14% to GBP83.0 million from GBP73.1 million.
"Senior delivered profitable growth in 2018," Chief Executive David Squires said.
"We had strong order intake, with a book-to-bill of 1.1 times, and sales reached another record level. Adjusted profit before tax increased by 15%, exceeding sales growth of 8%, on a constant currency basis. Free cash flow remains healthy and group margins improved as volumes increased and benefits from ongoing cost reduction efforts were realised."
The adjusted operating margin expanded to 8.5%, up from 8.1% the year prior.
"2019 trading has started in line with expectations," Squires added. "The board anticipates that, even with changeable geopolitical conditions, 2019 will be another year of improvement in performance for the group."
Senior proposed a 5.23 pence per share final dividend, up 6.7% from 4.90p the year prior. For the full year the dividend was increased 6.8% to 7.42p from 6.95p the year before.
"Looking further ahead, the group is well-positioned, financially robust and expects to continue to make good progress," Squires concluded.
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