Norman Hay Plc (LON:HNN), the Industrial Equipment and Coatings specialist a
nnounced its preliminary results for the year ending December 2009. The group, which produces coatings, sealants and relevant equipment for a variety of industries including automobiles, aerospace, tunnels, mining and oil and gas, delivered full year revenues of £26.2m (2008: £27m), pre-tax profit of £865,000 (2008: £2.4m) and eps of 6.4p. As usual cash flow was excellent with operating profit of £931,000 resulting in an operating cash inflow of £1.8m. Year end net debt was a meagre £829,000 equating to net gearing of approx 7%. Peter Hay, the group chairman commented that ‘We view our pre-tax profit for the year as an extremely satisfactory result. The cost reduction programme we undertook in the first half of 2009 mitigated the effects of a downturn in global trading. Additionally, revenue in the second half rose by 11% compared to the first half.’
The year saw the finalisation of the disposal of the remaining wet processing operations in Coventry, realising a profit on sale of £862,000 on a deferred consideration basis, after taking into account the direct costs of the disposal. International diversification in the sealants and chemicals divisions somewhat negated the effect of the UK economic downturn on the business as a whole. However, the surface coatings division, (which is primarily UK-based due to its need to be at the site of the customer), was significantly affected by the downturn. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop the business winning important contracts from competitors! The aim in the future is have more reliance on overseas surface coatings business, and the business model from the sealants’ and chemicals has proved this works well.
A second interim dividend for the year of 2.3p, announced on 2nd March 2010, was paid to Shareholders on 26th March 2010 in place of a final dividend for the year, making the total for the full year 4.3p (2008: 4.0p) equating to a yield of 5.4% based on the current share price. It is intended that future dividend payments will be paid in line with the normal dividend schedule. Just over 19,000 shares were traded in celebration!
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