Mild winter dents sales at heating and air conditioning group

Heating and air conditioning group Andrews Sykes has reported a dip in half-year revenue and profit which it attributed to last year’s mild winter.

The Wolverhampton-based group also said that the first six months of 2019 were also drier than the previous year which has an adverse impact on its pump hire business.

For the six months to the end of June, the group’s revenue came in at £35m, a decrease of £2.8m when compared with the same period last year.

As a consequence the operating profit decreased by £2.4m from £9.3m in the first half of 2018 to £6.9m.

Profit before tax was £6.8m, down from £9.3m, mainly due to the £2.4m decrease in operating profit.

Andrews Sykes said the group continues to be profitable and cash generative. Cash generated from operations was £7.5m after negative working capital movements of £3.9m.

It said management continues to safeguard the operational structure of the business, with cash spent on new plant and equipment, primarily hire fleet assets, amounting to £2.8m and a further £1.4m from stock was also added to the hire fleet.

“We have continued our policy of pursuing organic growth within our market sectors,” the company said.

“Continuing investment in both our existing core businesses and the ongoing development of new operations and income streams will ensure that we remain in a strong position and will safeguard profitability into the future.”