4th Mar 2019 08:28
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 250-listed chemicals firm Synthomer PLC boosted its 2018 dividend Monday after profit rose for the fourth consecutive year, helped by a rise in revenue.
In 2018, pretax profit widened 39% to GBP120.3 million from GBP86.4 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 9.5% to GBP1.62 billion from GBP1.48 billion in 2017.
Reported profit performance was helped by a steep fall in one-off charges during 2018. Special costs fell to GBP14.8 million from GBP43.6 million the year before.
These were primarily related to a drop in the charges for amortisation of acquired intangible assets to GBP16.4 million in 2018 from GBP31.0 million in 2017. Also, in 2018, Synthomer reported a GBP16.4 million gain on the sale of land from just GBP1.3 million the year before.
On an underlying basis - excluding special items - pretax profit widened 3.9% to GBP135.1 million from GBP130.0 million in 2017.
"I am pleased to report a year of good progress, highlighted by a fourth consecutive year of growth in underlying profitability," Synthomer Chair Neil Johnson said. "Progress has been underpinned by capital investment in higher growth markets, a focus on innovation, and our disciplined M&A strategy, overcoming a challenging market environment."
In January 2018, Synthomer acquired the BASF Pischelsdorf styrene butadiene rubber business for GBP25.8 million.
Synthomer proposed a 9.1 pence per share final dividend, up 7.1% from 8.5p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 7.4% to 13.1p from 12.2p the year before.
"Looking forward, the group's leading market positions, incremental low cost production capacity, geographic diversity and product differentiation, ensure we are well placed to navigate the current global political and economic uncertainties," Johnson added. "Given this, we are confident of making further progress in 2019 and the board's expectations remain unchanged."
Shares in Synthomer were 6.6% lower at 371.20 pence on Monday.
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