Fenner sees signs of stability return
CONVEYOR belt manufacturer Fenner has hailed the resilience of its business as it said there are signs of stability returning to worldwide markets.
The Hull-based group said that in the first half of its trading year revenue was up by 28% to £257.6m helped by its acquisitions while operating profit was £18.6m compared to £19.7m during the same period last year.
In the six months to February 28 underlying profit before taxation before amortisation of intangible assets acquired, exceptional items and notional interest was £12.1m compared to £16.2m previously.
Chairman Colin Cooke, said: “Our conveyor belting division, representing 70% of group revenue, has demonstrated resilience over the period. Its primary business driver, thermal coal mining, being less susceptible to the downturn in the global economy, maintained demand through the period for both our belting products and enlarged service businesses.
“In our advanced engineered products division, our niche businesses, supplying into the oil and gas and medical sectors, performed well whilst those parts of the group with exposure to general industrial applications inevitably experienced softening.
“There now appear to be more signs of stability with the effects of customer de-stocking coming to an end in some of the industrial businesses. This has not yet given rise to a significant increase in volumes but action has been taken to adjust our costs appropriately in each business.
“Our trading expectations have remained unchanged for the last two months and we remain confident in the business and its prospects.”
The group is maintaining its interim dividend at 2.2p.
