James Halstead profits improve

Commercial flooring group James Halstead continues to shrug off the effects of the recession, confirming that interim profit will increase and turnover is up 7%.'In these challenging times, turnover and trading profit have continued to grow and will, in line with our expectations, be higher than the comparative period,' read a statement Monday.The overseas businesses have beaten last year's number even without the help of a weak pound and, while the UK division is hurting, sales in central Europe, New Zealand and Australia all show 'positive trends'.'Several of our competitors are suffering lower sales, and there have been cut backs in infrastructure spend in many markets but we continue to progress,' said chief executive Mark Halstead.'We have recently committed to capital expenditure of £4m to upgrade our plant to increase productivity and capacity. This investment and new product developments, which are at an advanced stage, are measures of our continued confidence." The firm, which pays a special dividend of 15p a share today, reports results for the six months to 31 December 2009 on 31 March.