Results in line with management expectations
Sales from continuing operations of £35.0m (2015: £39.5m)
Underlying profit before tax from continuing operations of £0.1m (2015: £1.3m)
Statutory loss before tax on continuing operations of £0.3m (2015: £0.4m profit)
Underlying earnings per share from continuing operations of 0.2p (2015: 5.1p)
Basic loss per share of 1.5p (2015: 26.9p)
Interim dividend of 1.25p per share (2015: 2.5p)
Tony Steels appointed as Chief Executive in June
- comprehensive review of strategic direction initiated
The Board is taking a more cautious view of the short-term trading outlook and has revised downwards its trading expectations for the current year
Tony Steels, Chief Executive, commented:
"I am pleased to have joined Molins, a business with a long established track record of delivering innovative, engineered solutions to meet customers' packaging, instrumentation and processing needs. In the coming months our primary focus will be to review the strategic direction of the business to ensure we are in the best position to serve our customers. We expect this review to be largely completed by the end of the year.
The Group's results for the first half of the year are lower than in the same period last year but are in line with management expectations, with tough trading conditions impacting both divisions. Low demand for new cigarette-making capacity affected the Instrumentation & Tobacco Machinery division, and the Packaging Machinery division continues to experience delays in customers' investment decisions, although encouragingly sales of aftermarket products across the Group increased.
As in previous years, the Group's full year trading performance will be significantly weighted towards the second half. However we are experiencing continuing delays in receiving orders and are therefore taking a more cautious view of the short-term trading outlook, such that the Board has revised downwards its trading expectations for the current year."
