Carclo eyes stronger second half

Plastics business Carclo said it continued to trade in line with company expectations during the first half and expects to generate a stronger second half performance.

Pre-tax profit for six months ended September 30th came in at £1.9m versus £1.3m the year before. Revenue fell to £40m compared to £47m previously while operating profit grew to £2.2m from £945,000 before.

Carclo said its core operations remain on track to deliver a satisfactory year.

Chairman Michael Derbyshire said: "Our businesses continue to win new contracts despite the uncertain global economic environment. Contract awards throughout our businesses, coupled with further capital investment in infrastructure and technology support our confidence in the future growth of the group."

Conductive Inkjet Technology (CIT) made its first production shipment for touch sensors for a low volume smartphone and is in the final stages of production validation for a high volume tablet computer, the group explained.

"We are now starting to see the first substantial rewards from the significant investment in CIT and anticipate a good maiden contribution from CIT's touchscreen business in the final quarter and rapid growth thereafter. Our CDS business has also made considerable progress and has attracted a high level of interest from a wide range of potential partners," it added.

Turnover at technical plastics fell to £26.4m from £28.3m before due to timing delays on the recognition of sub contract tooling revenues.

LED Technologies was boosted by growth in its supercar lighting business and improved manufacturing efficiencies while precision engineering saw underlying operating profits rise to £0.7m from £0.6m.

The interim dividend has increased to 0.80p per share compared to 0.75p in 2011.

Carclo said its balance sheet has been strengthened by the equity fund-raising and its financing is secure.

CJ