3rd Mar 2015 07:59
LONDON (Alliance News) - Vesuvius PLC on Tuesday reported a rise in pretax profit in 2014 despite lower revenue as the group improved its profit margins and brought down costs.
The molten flow engineering company said its pretax profit for 2014 was GBP111.2 million, compared to GBP104.1 million last year.
Revenue fell to GBP1.44 billion from GBP1.51 billion last year, but the group brought down its manufacturing and administrative costs in the year to improve profitability. Revenue was held back significantly by the strength of sterling, with constant currency revenue increasing 3.5% compared to the 4.4% decline in reported revenue.
The group has proposed a final dividend of 11.125 pence, meaning its total dividend for the year will be 16.125 pence, compared to 15 pence last year.
"During 2014 we made encouraging progress in line with our objectives and strategy, against a backdrop of mixed trading conditions," said Vesuvius Chief Executive Francois Wanecq. "We have delivered further margin progression on the back of moderate underlying revenue growth, and we have maintained our long-term trend of expanding our addressable markets by building further on our strong base in Asia, and in China in particular."
"We expect the underlying trading environment in the current year to be broadly similar to that experienced in 2014. We are progressing with our plan to improve operational efficiency across the group and these actions should drive further improvement in our trading margins during 2015," Wanecq added.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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