New software investment contributes to profit drop at Victrex
Listed polymers business Victrex has seen its pre tax profits drop by 68% to £23.4m (FY 2023: £72.5m).
Turnover for the year revealed in audited preliminary results (audited) for the 12 months to 30 September 2024 were £291.0m (FY 2023: £307m).
The Lancashire headquartered global business said exceptional items of £35.7m in total (FY 2023: £7.5m) were a contributing factor.
These included a non-cash impairment of investment in associate (Bond 3D – supporting 3D printing capabilities in Spine (Medical)) of £9.1m and fair value loss on loans due from Bond 3D of £11.9m and associated legal fees of £0.2m.
The cost of a business improvement project, incorporating a new ERP software system implementation (go live in H1 FY 2025) was £9.9m, and the numbers included an impairment relating to the asset value of downstream manufacturing facilities in the US, totalling £4.6m.
Jakob Sigurdsson, Chief Executive of Victrex, commented: “After a soft start to FY 2024, we saw some improvement during the second half within Sustainable Solutions, primarily in VAR and Electronics. In Medical, the destocking phase within the medical device industry continues to linger, although continued growth in surgery rates supports improvement as we progress through FY 2025.”
Looking ahead, Sigurdsson said: “We have the opportunity to deliver underlying profit before tax growth ahead of volume growth, after the impact of currency, which is now a £7m-£8m headwind to profit before tax in FY 2025. For the medium to long term, the Board’s confidence in delivering our growth opportunities remains strong. We have a diversified core business, increasing mega-programme commercialisation, well invested assets and the opportunity for cashflow improvement.“
