Severfield-Rowen makes second interim dividend payment

STRUCTURAL steel company Severfield-Rowen today announced that it intends to make a second interim dividend payment of 5p per share.

This payment is in lieu of the final dividend for the year ended December 31, 2009, and brings the total dividend for the year to 15p.

In 2008, the North Yorkshire company made a total dividend payment of 20p to its shareholders.

The dividend will be paid on March 29 to shareholders who were still on the register on March 5.

Last June, Severfield-Rowen told shareholders at its annual general meeting that underlying pre-tax profits for 2009 will be ahead of management expectations following strong trading in the first five months.

At that point, the firm’s order book stood at £267m and was set to grow as a result of export sales.

But Severfield warned that its position needed to be tempered by the fact that prospects for the UK continued “to fade” to levels below those forecast by the industry.

The company’s preliminary results for 2009 will be announced on March 23.