LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Timber importer James Latham grew revenues across the six months leading to 30 September but was unable to translate the improvement into profits.
Group revenue increased 7% to £107.33m, but pre-tax profit slipped 12.2% from £7.66m to £6.72m on a margin that tightened from 18.7% at the midway point of the previous year to 17.3% for the half.

Chairman Nick Latham highlighted the fact that costs had increased for several of its products when compared to the previous year.

"This is in part down to the weakening of sterling following the European Union Referendum, but also in this six months we have seen manufacturers increasing prices, and we have not been able to pass all these increases on to our customers," he said.

The group had cash and equivalents of £12.6m, down from the £16.1m it held twelve months earlier; however, net assets increased from £64.5m to £83.8m throughout the half.

Looking forward, Latham said, "The second half of 2017/18 has started well with growing revenues at slightly higher margins. Trading conditions continue to be mixed, but despite the uncertainties in the economy, we and our customers remain busy.

"We are confident in the long-term prospects of our key product drivers, and this underpins our plan to continue to invest in our business to further improve the offering to our customers," he added.

Earnings per share dropped from 31.1p to 27.7p.

As of 1110 GMT, shares had fallen back 9.31% to 857.00p.

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