Croda announces £150m special dividend as profit ticks up

Specialty chemicals company Croda International announced a £150m special dividend on Tuesday as it said full-year pre-tax profit nudged higher.

In the year to 31 December, pre-tax profit on an IFRS basis edged up 1.2% to £317.8m, with revenue up 1% to £1.39bn and core business sales 3.8% higher at constant currency at £1.27bn.

The company said currency translation reduced sales versus 2017 by £26.2m and adjusted pre-tax profit by £8.7m.

Basic earnings per share increased 6.3% to 190.2p and Croda said it saw consistent growth in the core business at industry-leading margins. Meanwhile, sales in the personal care business were up 6.8%, while life sciences sales grew 2.8%.

With free cash generation improving and capital investment reducing, the full-year ordinary dividend was lifted by 7.4% to 87p. In addition, the company announced a £150m return of capital by way of a special dividend of 115p per share.

Free cash flow during the year improved to £155.4m from £98.5m in 2017.

Chief executive officer Steve Foots said: "2018 was another year of strong progress for Croda. We are 'Growing the Core' - once again delivering top line growth at industry leading margins to achieve superior returns. We are 'Stretching the Growth', accelerating delivery across our markets through relentless innovation and by investing in disruptive technologies and exciting new growth opportunities. All core sectors contributed to this performance, demonstrating Croda's three legs of growth. Cash generation strengthened and we have proposed the return of a further £150m through a special dividend to shareholders, in addition to an increased ordinary dividend.

"Looking ahead, whilst global market conditions remain challenging, we continue to invest for the future and are confident that our strategy of Growing the Core and Stretching the Growth will deliver further progress in 2019."