Another year of impressive growth for Polypipe

Polypipe’s first full year as a listed company saw more massive growth, with the plastic piping and ventilation systems manufacturer reporting strong increases in revenue and earnings in its final results on Thursday.

Revenue at the FTSE 250 firm grew 8% during the calendar year, at £352.9m compared with £327m in 2014. Its underlying operating profit jumped 17% to £54.2m, up from £46.3m, with an underlying operating margin of 15.4% compared with 14.2%.

Polypipe’s UK operations outperformed the group, with the board reporting a revenue increase of 10.6% there.

The company’s underlying profit before tax grew 28% to £48m, from £37.6m, with underlying earnings per share rising 21% to 19.47p, from 16.11p.

On a statutory basis, profit before tax leapt to £41.5m from £16.9m. Basic earnings per share were 17.11p, compared to 6.69p in 2014.

"2015 was a record performance and another year of excellent progress for the group,” said Polypipe chief executive David Hall.

“The acquisition of Nuaire was an important step in our strategic development and our growth initiatives continued to deliver,” he added.

Hall said he was delighted to report such a strong performance since the company’s IPO in April 2014, with underlying operating profit growing 36.5% in two years.

“While there are economic and political uncertainties, 2016 has started well and the board is confident that the market fundamentals in our main UK market remain positive and that we are pursuing a sound strategy for the future development of the business,” he explained.

Polypipe’s board recommended a final dividend of 5.5p, up from 3p for the post-IPO part year in 2014. Combined with the 2.3p interim dividend, the year’s total dividend was 7.8p, up from 4.5p.