12th Feb 2021 08:23
(Alliance News) - Victrex PLC on Friday recorded a "positive start" to its financial year, with the first quarter slightly ahead of expectations but performance mixed across end markets.
The Lancashire-based polymer supplier reported revenue in the period between October 1 and December 31 of GBP68.7 million, up 1% from GBP67.7 million in 2019, while sales volume in the period was 883 tonnes, also up 1% from 877 tonnes. The company said these slight increases were due to a strong Electronics division as increased homeworking supported demand for a range of smart devices.
Performance in Automotive, Medical and Value Added-Resellers was broadly stable, while Energy saw "limited improvement" from the low point of the second half of the 2020 financial year, and the Aerospace segment "remains challenging".
Asia is seeing the most most incremental improvement on a geographic basis, the company said, with a "mixed performance" in Europe and the US.
The 2021 financial year on a year-to-date basis "is slightly lower than the prior year", Victrex noted, with January "robust" but lower than the year before.
Net cash as at December 31 was GBP84.4 million, excluding cash ring-fenced for its Panjin VYX facility in China, in what will be "a year of high capital expenditure" of up to GBP50 million, Victrex added.
"This is a positive start to financial 2021 and we continue to see incremental improvement across several of our end markets. Nevertheless, the incremental improvement trend may remain variable and our assumptions are that we will still see a weaker first half overall, compared to the first half of 2020 which ended strongly. Consequently, at this early stage, our full-year expectations are unchanged. With sustainable products and a strong pipeline of growth opportunities, our Polymer & Parts strategy keeps us well positioned for the medium to long-term," said Chief Executive Jakob Sigurdsson.
Shares in Victrex were up 0.1% at 2,272.00 pence in London on Friday.
By Zoe Wickens; [email protected]
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