Synthomer profit surges on latex sales during pandemic

Synthomer's annual profit more than doubled after sales of latex used for gloves rocketed during the pandemic but the company said latex demand was now subdued.

Pretax profit rose to £420.1m in the year to the end of December from £160m a year earlier at constant currency as revenue increased 47% to £2.33bn. Statutory pretax profit jumped to £283.9m from £20.3m.

The polymer maker increased its final dividend to 21.3p a share from 8.6p, taking the annual payout to 30p - up from 11.6p a year earlier.

Performance was driven by high demand at Synthomer's performance elastomers business where revenue rose to £321m from £143m. The division produces nitrile latex used in protective gloves that were in high demand during the Covid-19 crisis.

Synthomer said demand for nitrile latex was subdued so far in 2022 because of high inventory levels among customers but that growth should return to pre-pandemic levels in the second half. Other divisions had an encouraging start to the year, it added.

Chief Executive Michael Willome said: "This has been an extraordinary year of outperformance for Synthomer. All areas of the business have had an excellent year, led by performance elastomers and unprecedented Nitrile latex demand due to the pandemic. With the market returning to more normalised growth conditions, the group's prospects remain very attractive and we look forward to making progress in the year ahead."

Synthomer's shares fell 0.2% to 273.6p at 11:21 GMT. The shares peaked at 552p in June 2021 - up from 204p before the pandemic.