City briefs: Castings; Hill & Smith
Walsall—based manufacturer Castings has announced director changes, as chairman Brian Cooke steps down.
Cooke will leave his post on 1st January 2023, with Alec Jones who is currently a senior independent director, succeeding him.
Mark Smith has been appointed as a non-executive director with effect from 16 November 2022. He is also appointed Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees. Smith was a partner at PwC LLP for 24 years until his retirement from the firm in September 2021. He was the Midlands Regional Chairman and a senior partner in the UK Audit and Risk business and has extensive experience in auditing public limited companies.
Sales for the six months ending September stood at £85.6m (2021 – £69.7m) with profit before tax of £7.5m (2021 – £5.4m).
Input price changes continue to be passed onto customers through both escalators and additional price increases. The most significant increase came into effect on 1 October 2022, following the end of Castings fixed-price electricity contract. The higher unit cost for power is being surcharged to customers immediately and will therefore increase revenue in the second half of the year. This should not adversely affect group profit as it is a pass-through of a direct cost increase.
Hill & Smith, the transport infrastructure group says trading has ‘remained robust with revenue from continuing operations 18% ahead of the prior period’.
Pricing actions have been taken to offset inflation resulting in operating margins being ahead of H1 2022 and the same period last year. The foreign exchange tailwind also means the group expects its operating profit for the whole year to be ahead of current analyst consensus.
Hill & Smith has completed the refinancing of its principal bank debt facility. The new revolving credit facility of £250m has an initial maturity of four years with an option to extend for a further year at the first anniversary, providing the group with the certainty of funding to support growth opportunities.
The firm has made several acquisitions this year, most recently a £22.2m purchase of California-based National Signal, a designer, manufacturer and supplier of off-grid solar lighting solutions in the USA.
It’s £3.7m acquisition of Widnes Galvanising has enhanced its presence in the north-west of the UK and is integrating well.
In its trading statement, Hill & Smith said: “While mindful of current macroeconomic uncertainty, the Group has a proven track record of resilience and, with exposure to the structural growth markets of sustainable infrastructure and safe transport, is well positioned to deliver against its strategic goals. Consequently, we expect to make further progress in 2023”.
