James Halstead profit falls but it keeps dividend hike record intact
James Halstead PLC on Wednesday reported a decline in annual earnings and said ‘constrained’ budgets in the education, healthcare and hospitality sectors are clouding its outlook in Europe.
The Manchester-based commercial flooring manufacturer and distributor raised its dividend, however, saying it still expects profit growth in the future.
Pretax profit in the year ended June 30 declined 1.9% to £55.1 million from £56.2 million. Revenue fell 4.7% to £262.0 million from £274.9 million.
‘Despite headwinds in the commercial flooring sector it was a solid performance,’ Chair Mark Halstead said.
‘Looking ahead, we have continuing product and process improvements and I, and the board, remain confident that the future offers many opportunities and on-going profitable growth.’
James Halstead lifted its final dividend by 0.8% to 6.05 pence from 6.00p. Its total dividend amounted to 8.80p, up 3.5% from 8.50p. The firm said it is its 49th consecutive annual dividend hike.
The firm hails ‘key projects’ during the year, including at the newly built Colchester Hospital in Essex, a rugby union stadium in Toulouse, France, and ’Real Madrid World’, a football theme park in Dubai.
Looking ahead, the firm expects ‘continued growth in North America and forward momentum in Malaysia’. However, in Europe, it is seeing ‘short-term ongoing headwinds’. These are hurting ‘repair, renewal and roll-out budgets’ that have already been tightened by employment costs in the education, healthcare and hospitality sectors.
Shares in the company were down 1.0% to 148.00p each in London on Wednesday morning, recovering from a steeper earlier fall.
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