Bodycote strong as industrial division recovers
Specialist coatings company Bodycote reported an 18.8% surge in first half revenue to £345.7m on Thursday, with its headline operating profit also showing a strong improvement of 25% to £61.7m.
Bodycote
679.00p
16:40 19/04/24
FTSE 250
19,391.30
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE 350
4,341.08
17:09 19/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,296.41
17:08 19/04/24
Industrial Engineering
13,663.38
17:10 19/04/24
The FTSE 250 company said its return on sales for the six months to 30 June was 17.8%, compared to 16.9% in the first half of 2016.
Its headline profit before tax stood at £60.5m, up 26%, while free cash flow rocketed ahead 101% to £42.1m.
Net cash at the end of the period stood at £17.7m, compared to the £5.5m net debt reported at the end of the first half last year.
Basic headline earnings per share were up 29% at 23.6p.
“Bodycote achieved strong revenue growth in the first half, with good momentum in virtually all parts of the group,” said group chief executive Stephen Harris.
“Notably, the general industrial business, which represents almost 40% of group revenues, experienced a broad based recovery after over three years of decline.
“Automotive and aerospace also moved ahead.”
On a statutory basis, operating profit was £59.4m, rising from £47.1m a year ago, whole profit before tax was £58.2m compared to £45.9m.
Statutory basic earnings per share were 22.9p, compared to 17.5p in the first half of 2016.
“The growth strategy of bolt-on acquisitions and greenfield investment contributed 5.5% of the 8.3% constant currency growth. Investment in new projects has been stepped up,” Stephen Harris added.
“The high margin specialist technologies continue to perform strongly and the margin expansion programme in European AGI is seeing further success.”
Bodycote’s board declared an interim dividend per share of 5.3p, a 6% improvement on the 5p paid to shareholders at the same time last year.
“The positive momentum achieved in the first half is expected to continue,” said Harris.
“While our business, by its nature, has limited forward visibility, the board now expects the full year result to be towards the upper end of market expectations.”