Scapa delivers record revenues but EPS falls, CEO stands down

Revenues grew 7% to £311.8m and trading profits increased 10.7% to £38.2m.

However, on a constant currency and continuing basis, trading profit fell by 0.3%, while basic earnings per share came to 5.3p, a marked drop on the 15.4p recorded a year earlier, reflecting the business reorganisation and site closures.

Adjusted net debt skyrocketed to £43.7m from the £3.8m seen in the year ended 31 March 2018 as a result of Scapa's £34m acquisition of a Systagenix manufacturing facility and a one-off stock build of £2.9m to fund the site moves of its Dunstable and Knoxville operations.

Despite the slimmed-down EPs and increased net debt, Scapa raised its dividend by 20.8% to 2.9p per share.

Elsewhere, Scapa revealed that after ten years with the company, Heejae Chae will step down as chief executive but will remain with the firm in order to ensure a smooth transition to a new CEO.

Chae said: "It was a difficult decision to step away from my post as group chief executive of Scapa, but I feel now is the right time to bring in new leadership to deliver the next phase of our growth strategy."

As of 1115 BST, Scapa shares had tumbled 16.49% to 311.49p.