LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Flowtech Fluidpower reported a 2.8% increase in revenue in its first-half results on Wednesday, reaching £59.1m, compared to £57.5m in the first half of 2022.
The AIM-traded firm said that, while it managed to sustain a strong gross profit margin of 35.5%, that was a slight decline compared to 36.3% in the prior year.

Its underlying EBITDA for the six months ended 30 June stood at £5m, down from £5.8m in the first half of last year.

Likewise, the underlying operating profit was reported at £3.4m, a decrease of £0.9m compared to the same period last year.

The overall operating profit saw a more significant dip, settling at £2.4m compared to £3.6m in 2022.

Profit before tax was £1.6m, almost half of what it was last year, which was £3.1m.

On a per-share basis, basic earnings were down, registering at 2.28p compared to 4.24p in the first half of last year.

Despite the reduced profitability, the company reported a positive development in its financial standing, with a £4.3m decrease in net debt before leases, now amounting to £15.4m compared to £19.7m in the prior period.

"Despite increasingly challenging economic conditions, overall group revenue increased by 2.8% in the period with a more positive performance in our solutions and services segments and a weaker performance in the product distribution segment, as previously reported," said chief executive officer Mike England.

"We have continued to make positive progress on working capital management, continuing to improve our debt position whilst maintaining tight cost controls.

"We expect these market headwinds to continue through the second half and into 2024 but I am pleased to report good progress is being made in deploying an immediate performance improvement plan and the refreshed strategy, strengthening the leadership team and simplifying the operating model building the capabilities to deliver mid-term scalable growth in a highly fragmented market."

At 1425 BST, shares in Flowtech Fluidpower were down 0.12% at 83.8p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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