Pre-close trading update

RNS Number : 5314K

Severfield PLC

11 April 2018

 

11 April 2018

Severfield plc

('the Company' or 'the Group')

Pre-close trading update

Severfield plc, the market leading structural steel group, today announces the following trading update for the financial year ended 31 March 2018.

Current trading

The Group's overall trading performance continues to be in line with our upwardly revised expectations, which were established at the time of the half year results on 21 November 2017. The financial position of the Group remains strong and year-end net funds were approximately £33m (2017: £33m).

UK

The UK order book of £242m as at 1 April (1 November: £245m) remains solid and continues to include work across a wide range of market sectors and project sizes. The order book remains in line with our normal order book levels, which typically equate to eight to ten months of annualised revenue. Our pipeline of potential future orders has remained stable with a good balance of work across all key market sectors.

Both order book and UK pipeline performance are consistent with our continued progress towards our strategic targets, including the 2020 strategic profit target of £26m.

India

The Indian business has continued to perform well in the second half of the year. This reflects good operational performance coupled with lower financing costs following the repayment of the joint venture's term debt in June 2017. The Indian order book of £65m at 1 April (1 November: £79m) remains strong and contains an appropriate mix of commercial work and lower margin industrial work. We remain confident in the long term development of the business and believe it continues to have a solid foundation from which to deliver future profitable growth.

Full year results

The Group will announce its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2018 on Wednesday 20 June 2018.

For further information, please contact:

Severfield                                  Alan Dunsmore                                      01845 577 896

Chief Executive Officer

Adam Semple                                       01845 577 896

Group Finance Director

Jefferies International                 Simon Hardy                                          020 7029 8000

Will Soutar                                            020 7029 8000

Camarco                                   Ginny Pulbrook                                      020 3757 4992

Tom Huddart                                          020 3757 4991

Legal Entity Identifier of the Company:  21380025AWPR781CY104

Classification: 3.1

Notes to editors:

Severfield is the UK's market leader in the design, fabrication and construction of structural steel, with a total capacity of c.150,000 tonnes of steel per annum, which represents c.17 per cent of UK structural steel production.

The Group has four sites, c.1,400 employees and expertise in large, complex projects across a broad range of sectors. The Group also has an established foothold in the developing Indian market through its joint venture partnership with JSW Steel (India's largest steel producer).

In 2016, the Severfield management team set out their key strategic target, to double underlying profit before tax to £26m by 2020.

 

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