Holders Technology's profits light up after LED revenue increase

Holders Technology on Friday reported that its full-year profits more than tripled after an increase in revenue from its LED solutions division.

For the year ended 30 November, the circuit board and lighting company reported profit before tax of £0.18m, up 227.7% compared to the year before, as a 2.3% revenue increase to £12.49m was driven by a 13.0% increase in revenue to £3.11m from LED solutions.

Both the UK and German LED operations were profitable after gross margins increased from 33.4% to 34.1% and operating losses dropped from £92,000 in 2017 to £13,000 in 2018.

Meanwhile, revenue from the PCB circuit board divisions remained flat at £9.45m and operating profit jumped from £0.21m to £0.28m.

Rudi Weinreich, executive chairman of Holders, said: "Investments were made in machinery and improved systems during the year, and in Q1 2019 an upgraded aluminium coil cutting machine will be installed in our Germany premises. This investment will enable both further efficiency improvements and will increase capacity."

Cash and cash equivalents stood at £0.40m at the end of the period, down from £0.58m at the same point the year before, while a final dividend of 0.50p per share was proposed, bringing the total dividend up to 0.75p per share from 0.50p last year.

"We believe the group is well positioned to deliver further improvements in the current year but recognise that the market conditions that we face remain unpredictable. On behalf of the board I would like to record our thanks to all of our staff for their hard work during 2018 which resulted in a profitable year for the group," said Weinreich.

Holders Technology's shares were up 4.37% at 43.00p at 1147 GMT.