Hill & Smith FY profit to be ‘slightly ahead’ of market views

Hill & Smith said on Tuesday that 2023 operating profit was set to be "slightly ahead" of the top end of current analyst consensus, as it hailed a "good" trading performance.

In an update for the four months to the end of October, the provider of sustainable infrastructure products and services said it traded well, with continued strong momentum in the US businesses and a "resilient" performance in the UK.

Revenue rose 15% on a constant currency basis and Hill & Smith said it had also seen positive operating margin progression over the same period last year.

"Given the good trading performance, we now expect FY23 operating profit to be slightly ahead of the top end of current analyst consensus and to start FY24 with positive momentum," it said. Consensus forecasts are for full-year underlying profit of £117.2m, with a range of £116m to £118.6m.

The company said the engineered solutions division continued to perform strongly, with "buoyant" demand across all its US businesses, particularly for composite solutions and structural steel components for the electricity transmission market.

Meanwhile, the galvanizing division delivered a "robust" performance. In particular, the US galvanizing business benefited from organic volume growth and a good trading performance at Korns Galvanizing, which was bought in March. In the UK, expected lower production volumes were offset through pricing and cost control actions, it said.

At 0940 GMT, the shares were up 1.8% at 1,790p.