Severfield FY revenues rise, ends year with record order book

Structural steel group Severfield saw revenues rise in the twelve months ended 26 March and ended the year with a record order book and good earnings visibility through 2023.

Severfield said on Wednesday that full-year revenues had risen 11.09% to £403.6m, bumping underlying operating profits up from £25.5m in 2021 to £26.9m a year earlier and boosting operating profits by £500,000 to £22.8m.

Basic earnings per share were 7.2p, up from 6.4p, while the group's return on capital employed was broadly flat year-on-year at 13.5%.

However, Severfield also revealed that operating margins had slightly narrowed from 6.1% to 5.7%, leading to a modest slip in pre-tax profits from £21.1m to £21.0m.

The London-listed firm declared a total dividend increase of 7% to 3.1p per share, including its proposed final dividend of 1.9p per share.

Severfield also said it had a record UK and Europe order book of £486.0m as of 1 June, including new industrial and distribution, film studio, commercial office and bridge orders, and a new stadium for Everton FC.

Chief executive Alan Dunsmore said: "We are delighted to be reporting a resilient and strong performance despite the ongoing market challenges. The group's growth strategy is delivering a record order book with a broad diversity of sectors, geographies, and clients, providing us with good earnings visibility through 2023 and beyond.

"Although inflation and supply chain pressures remain, we are managing these well and the earnings visibility gives us confidence in maintaining our positive performance expectations for 2023."

As of 1020 BST, Severfield shares were up 5% at 63.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com