9th Oct 2019 09:07
(Alliance News) - Ventilation products firm Volution Group PLC on Wednesday hiked its dividend after annual earnings rose by a double-digit percentage, shaking off first half operational issues in its facility in Reading, Berkshire.
In the financial year ended July 31, revenue grew by 15% to GBP235.7 million from GBP205.7 million, with pretax profit surging by 38% to GBP23.1 million from GBP16.7 million.
Volution said: "Operational difficulties at our Reading facility adversely impacted profitability in the first half of the financial year; however, there was a significant improvement in production levels and efficiency in the second half of the financial year. The Reading facility is now fully commissioned."
Revenue in the Ventilation Group segment rose by 16% GBP212.1 million from GBP183.1 million with the company reporting sales from its operations in the UK, Central Europe, Australasia and the Nordic region.
Volution added that its Australasian operation was boosted by Ventair Pty Ltd, a ventilation product supplier that it acquired in March for an initial AUD19.2 million, or GBP10.4 million.
The company said it also was helped by the prior year's acquisitions, including New Zealand firm Simx Ltd, Dutch company Air Fan BV and Oy Pamon Ab in Finland.
Torin-Sifan, in the original equipment manufacturing segment, had revenue growth of 4.5% to GBP23.6 million from GBP22.6 million.
Volution raised its full-year dividend by 10% to 4.90 pence per share from 4.44p in financial 2018.
Looking ahead, the company said it will look to improve its operational performance despite uncertainty in the UK economy due to the current state of Brexit negotiations.
Chief Executive Ronnie George said: "Our strong results this year were underpinned by improving organic revenue growth and the excellent contribution and progress achieved with the acquisitions made in the prior and current financial year.
"We also completed our factory rationalisation project in the UK: consolidating two older and capacity constrained facilities in to a new, purpose built injection moulding, ducting extrusion and fan assembly facility in Reading. This new and enlarged facility will future proof our production capability to serve all of our residential markets, not just in the UK but including our ambitious growth plans in Australasia leveraging the benefits from the recent acquisition of Ventair in March 2019."
Shares in Volution were 3.6% higher at 175.12 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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