Commenting today, Richard Harvey (Chairman) said:
"The Group has delivered good revenue growth of 10% in the first half particularly in its core markets of UK, Indonesia and Nigeria. This growth momentum has helped the Group to partially offset the significant impact from high raw material costs and challenging trading conditions in other markets.
Post period end the Group acquired the Fudge hair care brand for £25.5m as part of its strategy to acquire leading brands and to further widen the category participation of its newly formed Beauty division.
Other strategic initiatives, such as the new joint venture in Nigeria with Wilmar International, are progressing well.
Our balance sheet remains strong and we have the appetite to pursue further investment opportunities which fit our strategic aims.
We anticipate trading conditions in some markets will continue to be difficult for the remainder of the year, and, in particular, we are closely monitoring the current economic and social tensions in Nigeria which may further impact the year-end outturn.
Overall, we anticipate that results for the full year will be towards the bottom end of the range of current expectations."
The dividend is increased by 5%
