Victrex says effective tax rate to drop to 12%, EPS benefit seen

Victrex said on Monday that the group's effective tax rate under Patent Box - which enables companies to apply a lower rate of corporation tax to profits earned after 1 April 2013 to its patented inventions - is expected to drop.

The high-performance polymer solutions company said it expects the annualised impact of Patent Box to reduce its effective tax rate to around 12% from 21%, with an ongoing favourable impact on earnings per share and cash, although no cash benefit would be seen in FY17.

Victrex added that in terms of trading, it continues to be comfortable with current expectations.

The company also said that further to its announcement on 19 April, Jakob Sigurdsson has started as chief executive-designate, effective 1 September 2017. He will join the board as chief executive on 1 October, succeeding David Hummel who is retiring from the group after 24 years in the role.

Hummel said: "Jakob joins Victrex at a good time for the business. We continue to perform well and are well placed for 2017. I am greatly looking forward to working with Jakob over the coming months."

N+1 Singer said: "We have already forecast a special dividend for year to September 2017 and this tax change, we believe, increases the likelihood of another in 2018."

At 0928 BST, the shares were up 7% to 2,178p.