Agriculture was the driving force behind a stellar performance at Carr's Milling Industries (CRM) as adverse weather boosted sales of feed, feed blocks, fuel and animal health products.
This helped agricultural sales to rise 16 per cent to £340m and pushed the division's pre-tax profit up 8 per cent to £8.8m. But, even without the weather boost, Carr's still delivered underlying growth and market share gains after further acquisitions and a 9 per cent jump in sales of its low moisture feed blocks. A feed block manufacturing facility is due to be built in New Zealand in 2014, where the product is already selling well.
Food sales rose 17 per cent to £94.2m, too, and profit here grew 26.5 per cent to £0.6m - production at the new Kirkcaldy flour mill also began in September which should mean result in better returns. Sales in the engineering division, meanwhile, rose 12.4 per cent to £33.4m, but a £0.5m one-off settlement cost meant profit there dipped 10.6 per cent. Relocation costs in Germany and fewer nuclear contracts at the UK businesses are expected to result in lower profitability this year as well, but Carr's should benefit in the longer-term as the UK rebuilds its nuclear energy capacity.
Broker Investec Securities expects pre-tax profit of £16.5m in 2014, giving EPS of 129.9p (124.6p in 2012).
CARR'S MILLING INDUSTRIES (CRM) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
ORD PRICE: | 1,700p | MARKET VALUE: | £151m | |
TOUCH: | 1,675-1,700p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,785p | LOW: 917p |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.9% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 780p | NET DEBT: | 28% |
Year to 31 Aug | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | 350 | 7.00 | 50.4 | 23.0 |
2010 | 298 | 7.40 | 51.9 | 24.0 |
2011 | 373 | 10.0 | 77.0 | 26.0 |
2012 | 404 | 13.1 | 98.2 | 29.0 |
2013 | 468 | 15.9 | 129 | 32.0 |
% change | +16 | +21 | +31 | +10 |
Ex-div: 18 Dec Payment: 17 Jan |