Holders confident despite swinging to first-half operating loss

Lighting and wireless control technology company Holders reported first-half revenue of £3.45m on Friday, down from £5.79m year-on-year.

The AIM-traded firm said its gross profit for the six months ended 31 May totalled £1.21m, falling from £1.72m, while its margins expanded to 34.9% from 29.7%.

It swung to an operating loss of £0.24m, compared to a profit of £0.1m for the same period a year ago.

Losses per share came in at 5.35p, compared to earnings of 2.46p year-on-year, as the board kept the interim dividend stable at 0.5p per share.

Its net assets, meanwhile, improved to 99p per share, from 95p per share at the interim in 2021.

In lighting control systems, Holders said UK revenue growth was “strong”, although market demand in Germany was weakened by project delays and cancellations.

Revenue from the division increased 11.9% overall to £2.23m, and by 18.7% when including the group share of joint venture revenue.

“We have continued to invest across the Group in staff, technology and product development,” the board said in its statement.

It explained that the costs initially contributed to a margin decrease to 34.3% from 37.7%, which it was seeking to improve.

The overall result for the lighting control systems division was an operating loss of £0.22m, swinging from a profit of £53k.

“In addition, the four lighting control systems joint ventures - Holders Technology Austria, Holders Technology Data Analytics, Holders Technology New Zealand and Holders Technology Australia - made further progress during the period and overall were profitable.”

For the printed circuit board operation, meanwhile, Holders said results from the restructured divisions were “broadly in line” with expectations, in spite of “difficult” market conditions.

Revenues from the continuing product ranges decreased 11.2% to £1.23m, partly because shorter supplier lead times enabled customers to hold less stock.

Gross margins improved to 36.1% from 25.5%, meanwhile, due to the product mix of the retained printed circuit board business, meaning the overall result was an operating profit of £83l, down from £0.13m a year earlier.

Group cash at the end of the period totalled £2.49m, up from £1.28m, and other than lease liabilities, the company held no debt.

“The second half of the financial year has started well, with improving revenue and profitability,” the Holders board added.

“We will continue with our strategy to invest in sales and technical resources, new products and technology to enable the group to be a leader in our markets.

“Whilst we are cautious regarding the global economic outlook, we remain confident that future performance will demonstrate the validity of this approach.”

At 1020 BST, shares in Holders Technology Group were down 0.67% at 89.4p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.