Carclo swings to first half profit

Plastics company Carclo swung to a profit in the first half thanks to a good performance form its two main manufacturing divisions.

For the six months to the end of September, pre-tax profit came in at £4.1m compared with a £21.2m loss in the same period last year, as revenue rose to £57.2m from £48.8m.

Underlying pre-tax profit rose to £4.1m from £2.3m and the company lifted its interim dividend to 0.90p per share from 0.85p.

Chairman Michael Derbyshire said: “The group's two main manufacturing divisions have produced excellent results in the first half of the year showing substantial progress over the comparative period last year.

“Our strategy to expand the scale and quality of our manufacturing footprint at our existing sites has borne fruit in increased turnover, profitability and improving margins within Technical Plastics and further planned expansions underpin the strong growth prospects for this division.”

At 1100 GMT, shares were up 7.5% to 120.88p.