Margins improve across all business units, says Elementis

2nd Aug 2011 14:24

Specialty chemicals manufacturer Elementis posted a 53% jump in pre-tax profits as margins improved in all areas of the business but kept its interim dividend unchanged.For the six months ended 30 June, the company's revenue rose 11% to $396m, up from $358m last year. The company's pre-tax profits increased to $70.6m, up 53% from $46.4m in the corresponding period last year. Elementis said its specialty products business "is strategically well placed to continue to benefit from the powerful global trends of robust growth in shale gas drilling, the opportunities provided by our established position in emerging and high growth markets, especially Asia."Elementis' board retained its interim dividend of 2.34 cents per share as it intends to rebalance the dividend payout by increasing it in the latter half of the year. In addition to the results, the British maker of paint additives told Bloomberg in an interview that it is exploring opportunities to invest its cash and stave off stiff competition within the chemicals industry. Shares of the company, which began the day on a positive note, quickly slipped more than 1%, but pared some of its losses to trade down 0.7% at 159.9p in London.AR