McBride profits dive

Own brand household and personal care products supplier McBride made a 4% rise on revenue, but saw operating profits dive 86%, for the six months ended December 31st.

Operating profit fell from £18.8m to £2.7m, which after rising costs led to a pre-tax loss of £0.4m, compared to a profit of £15.5m in the same period of the previous year.

Revenues rose from £407.9m to £423.1m, while cost of sales rose from £268.5m to £294.3m.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Chief Executive Chris Bull said: "Whilst some volatility in the global commodity and currency markets remains, trading since the end of December has been in line with the Board's expectations, and we expect to see continued progress for the remainder of the year. Our re-structuring activities are being implemented to plan and will lead to total exceptional charges of around £21m and annualised savings of £7m as previously announced."

Net debt rose 18% from £72.2m to £85.2m.

The firm maintained an interim dividend of 2p.

The share price rose 2.88% to 125.00p by 12:36.

NR