Flooring manufacturer James Halstead is nearing “dividend king” status after hiking investor payouts for almost 50 years straight.
The AIM-listed firm reported profit growth for its 2024 financial year despite “challenging” market conditions, including geopolitical tension in the Middle East.
James Halstead said its pretax profit came in at £56.2m for the year ending on 30 June 2024, up from £52.1m during the same period a year prior.
Still, the Manchester-based firm saw its revenue drop 9.4 per cent to £274.9m, which it blamed largely on “headwinds in the UK and Europe“.
It flagged “further disruption” to world trade routes amid Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, which have extended delivery times and driven up freight transportation costs.
The 120-year-old firm added that its gross margins had improved to 44 per cent from 38 per cent, mainly due to its manufacturing plants running longer hours.
James Halstead, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange for 75 years, raised its final dividend for the 49th year in a row to 6p, compared to 5.75p in 2023.
Chief executive Mark Halstead said on Tuesday that the 2024 financial year had been: “Largely positive… against the challenging economic backdrop with frustrations and further disruption to global trade routes”.
“We have continued to invest in process improvement as well as product development to improve output efficiency and our product offering,” he added. “This has been substantial and I am pleased to say has already led to improved productivity and margin improvement.”
The firm highlighted “new significant business” in countries like the UAE, Colombia, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Greece and South Africa.
“We look ahead to [the 2025 financial year] in good stead and after delivering another year of profit growth,” Halstead continued.