Trading Update

RNS Number : 7623L

Plastics Capital PLC

30 April 2015

 



Plastics Capital plc

("Plastics Capital" or the "Group")

Trading Update

Plastics Capital (AIM: PLA), the niche plastics products group, is pleased to announce that it expects performance for the full year to 31 March 2015 to be broadly in line with market expectations. Whilst trading in the second half of the year was at the lower end of our expectations, the results showed a considerable improvement on the first half trading performance.

Trading in the second half of the year was considerably ahead of the first half year in terms of both revenue and profits.  This strong performance was a result of strong growth at Flexipol, which was acquired in November 2014, and an encouraging recovery in sales and profitability of the bearings business, BNL.  Sales of creasing matrix continued its steady growth on the first half whilst the expected recovery in mandrel sales only began to materialise after the financial year end.  We now expect our Industrial division, which includes bearings and mandrels, to continue to recover slowly over the new financial year.

We are particularly pleased to report that the integration of Flexipol was completed successfully during the period with its financial results exceeding our original expectations. Furthermore, we are currently evaluating a number of product-market opportunities to take this business forward through further innovation and capacity expansion and are proactively adding additional sales resource to the specialist films business.  Collaboration with our pre-existing film packaging business, Palagan, is also progressing well and some initial cross-selling successes were achieved during the period.  We expect this to develop further in the new financial year.

Operating margins benefitted from lower raw material prices that prevailed throughout the second half of the financial year and the cost reduction programmes implemented across the bearings business.  Cash generation continued in-line with market expectations.

Commenting, Faisal Rahmatallah, Executive Chairman, said:"We have seen a substantial recovery in performance during the second half year particularly in our bearings business; we are also very pleased with the performance to date and the potential for further development of our recent acquisition, Flexipol.  Both of these factors augur well for growth and profitability for the 2015-16 financial year."

For further information, please contact:

Plastics Capital plc	Tel: [phone]
Faisal Rahmatallah, Executive Chairman
Nick Ball, Finance Director
Cenkos Securities	Tel: [phone]
(Nomad and joint broker)
Mark Connelly
Callum Davidson
Allenby Capital Limited	Tel: [phone]
(Joint broker)
David Hart
Katrina Perez
Walbrook PR Ltd	Tel: [phone] or [e-mail]
Paul Cornelius	Mob: [phone]
Helen Cresswell	Mob: [phone]

Notes to Editors

Plastics Capital is a consolidator of plastics products manufacturers focused on proprietary products for niche markets.  The Group has five factories in the UK, one in Thailand, two in China and sales offices in the USA, Japan, China and India.  Approximately 40 per cent of sales are exported to over 80 countries worldwide.  Production is concentrated in the UK where significant engineering know-how and automation underpins the Group's competitiveness.  The Group has approximately 450 employees.

Further information can be found on www.plasticscapital.com

 

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