Macfarlane Group publishes its 2023 Interim Results

INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2023 – RESILIENT H1 2023 PERFORMANCE – PROFIT EXPECTATIONS FOR THE FULL YEAR UNCHANGED

 

Financial Highlights	H1 2023 £000	H1 2022 £000	Increase %
Revenue	141,612	139,209	2%
Operating profit before amortisation1	12,839	11,384	13%
Operating profit	10,800	9,604	12%
Profit before tax	9,987	8,857	13%
Profit for the period	7,510	6,888	9%
Interim dividend (pence)	0.94p	0.90p	4%
Basic earnings per share (pence)	4.74p	4.36p	9%

• See note 2 for reconciliation of alternative performance measure, operating profit before amortisation, to operating profit.

 

Key highlights

• Revenue grew by 2% versus H1 2022 to £141.6m.
• Profit before tax at £10.0m increased by 13%.
• Basic and diluted earnings per share were 4.74p per share (H1 2022: 4.36p per share) and 4.70p per share (H1 2022: 4.31p per share) respectively.
• Profit in line with expectations for the full year.

Packaging Distribution

• Packaging Distribution grew revenue by £0.4m to £124.0m in H1 2023.
• A good contribution from the acquisitions of PackMann in May 2022 and Gottlieb in April 2023, combined with organic growth in Europe and new business wins, offset lower demand from customers in the UK and Ireland.
• Operating profit before amortisation increased by 6% to £9.4m (H1 2022: £8.9m) through effective management of input pricing which offset inflation in operating costs.

Manufacturing Operations

• Manufacturing Operations delivered strong revenue growth of 13% to £17.7m (H1 2022: £15.7m).
• A good contribution from Suttons, acquired in February 2023, offset the slower demand in certain industrial markets.
• Operating profit before amortisation increased 36% to £3.4m (H1 2022: £2.5m).

Group

• Effective management of working capital resulted in net cash inflow from operating activities of £20.3m (H1 2022: £6.5m).
• Net bank debt on 30 June 2023 was £3.3m – a cash inflow of £0.1m from 31 December 2022, after £11.4m of investment in acquisitions and £1.4m of capital expenditure. The Group is operating well within its bank facility of £35.0m, increased from £30.0m at 31 December 2022, which runs until 31 December 2025.
• Pension scheme surplus increased to £12.8m at 30 June 2023 (31 December 2022: £10.2m). The improvement is due to continued contributions from the Group and an increase in the discount rate, offset by lower investment returns in H1 2023.
• Interim dividend increased to 0.94p per share (H1 2022: 0.90p per share) – to be paid on 12 October 2023 to shareholders on the register as at 15 September 2023 (ex-dividend date 14 September 2023).

Aleen Gulvanessian, Chair of Macfarlane Group PLC, today said: –

Trading

“The Group has demonstrated resilience in the first half of 2023, against the backdrop of a slowdown in customer demand.  We have executed two high quality acquisitions which are both performing well, we continue to make good progress in Europe and have positive new business momentum.  The inflationary impact of operating cost increases has been offset by effective input price management.  We opened our new Northern Innovation Lab in March 2023 which is already having early success in helping our customers reduce their total cost of packaging and carbon footprint.”

Outlook

“Whilst we expect the second half of 2023 to remain challenging, our good progress in Europe, diverse customer base, strong new business momentum and effective management of pricing and costs mean that our profit expectations for the full year remain unchanged.”

Further enquiries:	Macfarlane Group	Tel: 0141 333 9666
	Aleen Gulvanessian           Chair
	Peter Atkinson                    Chief Executive
	Ivor Gray                             Finance Director
	Spreng Thomson
	Callum Spreng	Mob: 07803 970103

 

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