LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Ibstock PLC rose early Tuesday as the company announced future supplementary dividend payments alongside ordinary payouts, with the brick and concrete products maker posting good profit and revenue growth for 2017.
Shares were up 5.5% on Tuesday morning at 276.60 pence each, the best performer in the FTSE 250 index.
Ibstock is paying a final dividend for 2017 of 6.5p per share, up 23% year-on-year. This takes its total shareholder payout to 9.1p, compared to 7.7p in 2016.
The company said that, due to stronger cash flow and reduced debt, it plans to pay a "supplementary" dividend going into 2018. For 2018, it will be of a similar amount to 2017's final amount and would be paid alongside Ibstock's interim dividend. It said it expects to announce its first supplementary dividend in August this year.
On a statutory basis, Ibstock's pretax profit fell to GBP83.4 million from GBP110.9 million in 2016. However, this year the company booked negative exceptional items of GBP4.9 million, compared to a positive GBP32.0 million in 2016.
Adjusted pretax profit for 2017 increased 12% to GBP88.3 million from GBP78.8 million, with revenue for 2017 rising 3.9% to GBP451.6 million from GBP434.7 million.
Ibstock said its decision to open a new brick factory in Leicestershire has proven "to be a good one". UK revenue for 2017 rose to GBP363.0 million from GBP344.0 million, with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation increased to GBP111.0 million from GBP103.0 million.
In the US, revenue fell 2% to GBP89.0 million, which Ibstock said reflects a more competitive new build residential market and a less favourable product mix. Adjusted Ebitda for 2017 also decreased slightly to GBP12.0 million from GBP13.0 million.
The housing shortage and UK government policy continue to support UK operations in 2018, Ibstock said, while it expects the US business to be "stable" despite an uncertain market.
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