Havelock Europa swings to profit after challenging year

Shares in Havelock Europa are down more than 13% after swinging to a full-year profit in what it said was a challenging year due to a significant reduction in revenue.

Pre-tax profit before exceptional items was £0.4m, following-on from a loss of £0.8m in the same period a year earlier. Revenue was £60.8m, which was down from £73.1m.

Chairman Ian Godden said 2016 was a challenging year due to the significant reduction in revenue.

"Nevertheless," he said, "we have made considerable progress in realising the benefits from the restructuring of the business with a substantial improvement in margins and a return to profitability.

Godden added that the business continued to concentrate on simplifying its structure and processes and on improving its commercial skills to make it more agile and to generate more operating profit and cash flow.

At 10:49 BST, shares in AIM-listed Havelock Europa were down 13.33% to 13p each.