H1 Highlights
Ongoing improvement in Europe and North America:
o Driven by positive momentum in Construction & Coatings, Functional Polymers and Foam markets.
Strong performance in Asia and Rest of the World:
o Improved performance driven by firming margins relative to H1 2015. Volumes and margins achieved in nitrile business broadly in line with the strong performance experienced in H2 2015.
Cost efficiency programme on track:
o Delivered annualised run rate savings of €11m by the end of June, targeting run rate of €13m by the end of 2016.
Hexion Performance Adhesives and Coatings ('Hexion PAC') acquired on 21 March 2016
o Transaction completed on 30 June 2016; reorganisation and integration process well underway.
R&D: Products launched in last 5 years now represent 18% of sales (2015: 16%).
Debt: Continued good cash generation of £34.4m, leading to net borrowings at 30 June of £46.7m (31 December 2015: £77.4m), or £215.0m post acquisition of Hexion PAC. The pro-forma post acquisition leverage multiple was 1.5x.
Earnings per share: Up 19.0% at 13.8p per share.
Dividend: Interim dividend is increased by 9.4% from 3.2 to 3.5 pence per share.
