LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Engineered ceramics company Vesuvius said on Wednesday that it had delivered a "stronger than expected" sales performance in the first four months of 2022.
Vesuvius stated positive volume growth in its steel division was supported by market share gains across all key regions, particularly in flow control, while the firm's foundry division reported volumes broadly in line with the equivalent period a year earlier amid continued weakness in automotive end markets.

The FTSE 250-listed firm highlighted that its active management of selling prices had successfully offset all cost inflation to date and, as a result, year-to-date trading profits increased by more than 60% year-on-year on a constant currency basis.

Vesuvius added that its balance sheet remained strong and that it now expects leverage at the half-year to remain largely unchanged year-on-year, despite the impact on net debt from increased working capital. It anticipates that leverage will decline in the second half of the year.

"The global macro-economic outlook has weakened since the start of the year due to geopolitical uncertainty, Covid-related restrictions in China, and the prospect of increasing interest rates to combat inflation," said Vesuvius.

"However, despite this weakening economic environment, our expectations for the group performance for the full year remain unchanged given the strong start to the year and our proven ability to actively manage cost pass through with pricing."

As of 0840 BST, Vesuvius shares were up 3.69% at 343.0p.



Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

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