Hill & Smith revenues rise as markets bounce back

The company, which makes safety infrastructure for motorways, also reported a strong recovery in operating profit in comparison to the same period last year which was impacted by Covid-19 related disruption from the middle of March 2020.

“We expect to see a good recovery in trading in 2021 and while mindful of foreign exchange movements, our expectations for the full year remain unchanged,” the company said on Tuesday.

“While we continue to experience headwinds relating to US labour shortages and higher global steel costs, our local teams have taken swift and effective actions which are mitigating the impacts.”

It added that the medium-to-longer-0term outlook remained positive, supported by "strong growth drivers for both sustainable infrastructure and safe transport”.

Net debt at April 30 was £160.2m, up from £146.2m at the end of 2020. The shift includes cash outflows of £7.3m for the full-year 2020 interim dividend and £11.7m relating to the acquisition of Prolectric Services.

"Our roads subdivision delivered results ahead of 2020, reflecting high levels of demand in the US, a solid performance in the UK and a robust recovery in our other international roads businesses. While our security businesses continued to face challenges due to Covid-19 restrictions on public gatherings and delayed customer projects, the trading performance was ahead of the same period last year."