LONDON (ShareCast) - Plastics business Carclo has pleased its investors after increasing its dividend and unveiling Chris Malley as its new Chief Executive.

Malley, who has been with Carclo for thirteen years, is replacing Ian Williamson, who will retire from the board in March of next year.

Pre-tax profit came in at £5.5m (2011: £6.8m) on revenues of £93.3m (2011: £88.6m), slightly shy of expectations of £94m, with profits offset by an exceptional items charge of £1.8m. Underlying profit from operations increased by 12.3% to £6.6m.

The exceptional items charge was due mainly to the non-cash impairment charge associated with the firm's withdrawal from the volume automotive communications business.

Although basic earnings per share were 7.5p, down from 9.6p the year before, underlying earnings per share rose to 9.7p from 9.6p the previous year.

The board recommended a final dividend of 1.65p per share (2011: 1.5p), taking the full year dividend to 2.4p, up 9.1% compared to the year before and 0.2p ahead of analyst expectations.

Carclo's Chairman Christopher Ross said: "Our core manufacturing businesses continue to perform well. Recent contract awards and the expansion of the Indian operation will generate growth and support increased profitability in our Technical Plastics division.

"In Precision Products, our well-timed exit from the automotive antenna business enables us to deploy further resources to accelerate the expansion of our specialist LED Technologies division. We are working on a number of new contracts which will deliver further growth.

"These developments taken together give the board confidence that the new financial year will be transformational for Carclo."

Chris Malley has held senior management positions in finance, corporate development and then as divisional Chief Executive of its card clothing division, which was sold to Bekaert in 2005.

The share price rose 4.4% to 380p to 12:29.

NR

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