Focusrite FY pre-tax profits slip as costs rise

Music and audio products group Focusrite said on Thursday that full-year pre-tax profits had fallen amid an uptick in costs.

Focusrite said pre-tax profits had slipped from £35.03m to £30.54m and adjusted operating profits had fallen 16.2% to £34.7m, even as revenues grew 5.6% to £183.7m.

The AIM-listed firm stated the decline came as gross margins were impacted by a one-off duty benefit in the prior year, an inflationary cost environment, particularly high freight rates, and increased component prices. However, these were said to have been partially offset by sales price increases.

Basic earnings per share dropped 12.9% to 42.5p but Focusrite opted to hike its total dividend per share from 5.2p to 6.0p.

Focusrise also said it saw "strong growth" in its rest of world segment, while Europe, the Middle East and Africa and North America was broadly stable.

Chief executive Tim Carroll said: "We remain mindful of the current significant global economic and political challenges, as well as the ongoing cost pressures in the supply chain, but we have worked hard to build back our inventory position."

As of 1025 GMT, Focusrite shares were down 8.05% at 800.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com