UK DIY News

Norcros Reports 'Robust Performance in Challenging Market'

Norcros, a market leading supplier of high quality and innovative bathroom and kitchen products, today announces its results for the six months ended 30 September 2018.

Financial Summary

	Six months ended 30 September 2018	Six months ended 30 September 2017	% change as reported	% change at constant currency
Revenue	£162.6m	£145.0m	+12.1%	+13.3%
Underlying* operating profit	£15.2m	£11.7m	+29.9%
Underlying* profit before tax	£14.2m	£11.5m	+23.5%
Profit before tax	£15.2m	£7.4m	+105.4%
Diluted underlying EPS*	13.9p	14.0p	-0.7%
Interim dividend per share	2.8p	2.6p	+7.7%
Net debt	£53.5m	£20.8m

* Definitions of alternative performance measures are provided in note 3

Highlights

· Revenue increased by 12.1% and 13.3% on a constant currency basis

· Underlying operating profit increased by 29.9% to £15.2m

· Merlyn performed strongly, in line with our expectations

· Triton's strong momentum sustained

· Johnson Tiles UK returned to profit following restructuring

· South Africa revenue increased by 7.1% on a constant currency basis

· Return on sales increased to 9.3% (2017: 8.1%)

· Interim dividend increased by 7.7% to 2.8p per share

Visit our articles page for the full Norcros results presentation.

Martin Towers, Chairman, commented:

"I am pleased to report a robust set of results for the six months ended 30 September 2018 in what has been a challenging market environment. This performance continues to demonstrate the strength of our market positions, our leading brands and the financial resilience of our diversified business model. The Board remains confident that these attributes will continue to drive market outperformance and will enable the Group to make further progress in line with its expectations for the year to 31 March 2019."

Source : Norcros

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15 November 2018