Shares of Melrose Industries Plc (MRO.L) climbed about 6 percent Wednesday morning, as the company posted an increase in profit before tax for the full year 2012 on higher revenues. Looking ahead, the firm said conditions in the overall world economy are still very hard to predict with any certainty, but expects further progress in 2013.
For the year, the company posted profit before tax of 92 million pounds, up from 91 million pounds in the previous year.
Meanwhile, profit attributable to owners of the parent plunged to 42.5 million pounds or 4.4 pence per share from 286.4 million pounds or 33.6 pence per share last year. The company has restated its prior-year results.
Earnings from continuing operations were 4.3 pence per share, down from 12.9 pence per share last year. Prior-year results included a profit of 176.4 million pounds from discontinued operations.
Adjusting for one-time charges, headline earnings were 16.3 pence per share, while the company posted 16.4 pence per share last year.
Revenues climbed to 1.55 billion pounds from 1.08 billion pounds in the preceding year.
Chairman Christopher Miller stated, "We are very pleased with Elster and are already one year ahead of our improvement plan, increasing margins faster than expected. Existing Melrose businesses have performed well and Elster is proving to be another great opportunity to create more value for Melrose shareholders."
The company completed acquisition of Elster on August 23, 2012, for an enterprise value of 1.8 billion pounds.
Melrose noted that in addition to occasional acquisitions, its strategy also comprises selling existing businesses at appropriate time. The sales will be made when the firm sees that it has achieved 'the bulk of improvement' in performance, with subsequent related returns of capital.
The board has proposed a final dividend of 5.0 pence, up 4 percent from last year, to shareholders of record on April 19, 2013, payable on May 13. This will bring the total dividend for the year to 7.6 pence, compared to 7.4 pence last year.
MRO.L is currently trading at 274.5 pence, up 14.5 pence or 5.58 percent, on a volume of 2.95 million shares on the LSE.
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