The Luceco Plc Board is proposing to pay an interim dividend of 1.6p per share, equivalent to the same dividend as the prior half year. This will be paid to shareholders on 20 October 2023 who are on the register on 15 September 2023 and the last day for dividend reinvestment (DRIP) elections is 29 September 2023. This equates to a payout ratio of 42% which, slightly ahead of the prior year's 40% payout ratio.
Other financial highlights include:
◦Revenue: £101.1m in line with the expected slow down seen in the residential Repair, Maintenance and Improvement ("RMI") market (H1 2022: £106.4m)
◦Adjusted Operating Profit: £10.8m (H1 2022: £11.5m) reflecting a return to strong gross margins, up over 5 percentage points versus H1 2022 to 39.4%
◦Adjusted EPS: 5.0p (H1 2022: 5.8p)
◦Covenant Net Debt reduced by 30.2% year on year and Covenant Net Debt : EBITDA ratio remains at the lower end of the target range at 1.3x (H1 2022: 1.4x)
