By Anthony O. Goriainoff
Croda said Tuesday that first-half pretax profit fell as sales were hurt by customers reducing inventory levels in consumer, crop and industrial markets, and backed its guidance for the year.
The London-listed specialty chemicals company said pro forma sales fell 6%, and that it has introduced cost measures to protect profitability.
Pretax profit was 128.7 million pounds ($165.1 million) for the six months ended June 30 compared with GBP636.5 million in the same period of 2022.
Adjusted pretax profit–a metric which strips out exceptional and other one-off items–was GBP174.3 million compared with GBP288.8 million for the year-prior period.
Revenue fell to GBP880.9 million from GBP1.13 billion for the year-prior period. A consensus estimate based on the forecasts of three analysts polled by FactSet had revenue at GBP907.3 million.
The FTSE 100-listed group declared an interim dividend of 47.0 pence a share, flat on the previous year and said this reflected confidence in its future performance.
The company said it continues to expect 2023 adjusted pretax profit in the GBP370 million to GBP400 million range.
“We will leverage our strong balance sheet to sustain ongoing investment in our repositioned portfolio, focused on fast-growing niches, to create significant future value,” it said.
Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com
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