As companies such as Apple, Google and Uber splurge on fancy new headquarters, demand in the US for premium, energy-saving building materials has gone through the roof. Combined with brisk trading in the UK construction market, that fuelled a 4 per cent rise in underlying operating profit at Alumasc (ALU) to £4.1m in the reported period.
Strong trading across the pond helped to drive operating profits up a fifth in the solar shading business. Moreover, the water management and housebuilding subdivisions cashed in on buoyant demand for products such as gutters and loft hatches. The upshot was a 4 per cent rise in underlying sales of building products, while a £3m solar deal to screen a power plant on the US east coast helped to swell the division's order book by 43 per cent to over £27m.
The damp spot in the results was the roofing and walling division, where operating profit slid by almost a third to £1.8m. That reflected sector-wide labour shortages, which led to project delays, as well as government funding drying up for 'green' housing refurbishment.
Alumasc is flogging its final engineering products business, Dyson Diecastings, to focus on the building products sector. Broker finnCap expects EPS of 19p for the full 2016 financial year, compared with 18.2p in FY2015.
| ALUMASC (ALU) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 192p | MARKET VALUE: | £68m | |
| TOUCH: | 189-194p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 220p | LOW: 120p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.2% | PE RATIO: | 12 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 49p* | NET CASH: | £0.5m | |
| Half-year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 45.2 | 2.9 | 6.0 | 2.5 |
| 2015 | 43.5 | 3.2 | 7.2 | 2.7 |
| % change | -4 | +12 | +20 | +8 |
Ex-div: 3 Mar Payment: 7 Apr *Includes intangible assets of £19.3m, or 54p a share | ||||
