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Holders Technology switches to profitability and benefits from euro strength
Holders Technology announced on Friday that it has returned to profitability, with profits after tax of £17,000 for the year to the end December, compared with a loss of £395,000 in 2016.
The lighting tools, equipment and materials provider achieved a 12% increase in revenues to £12.2m over the year and benefited from not spending on restructuring which had cost the company a total of £116,000 in 2016.
Restructuring efforts and sales recruitment from 2016 appeared to have had a positive impact but almost half of the company's revenue growth stemmed from the euro strengthening against the sterling.
Rudi Weinrich, executive chairman of Holders Technology, said: "In my last Annual Statement, I reported that a number of changes were being made to the Group's management and sales teams and that along with this, further investments in PCB machinery were being made. The aim of these measures was to enable the Group to return to profitability and I am very pleased to be able to report that the Group did achieve an operating profit for the year of £65,000 from continuing operations."
The company's German PCB divisions, which constitute the largest single element of the group, saw revenues rise 14% to £9.5m, again largely thanks to the strengthening of the euro which accounted of £0.6m of the revenue growth.
Holders technologies' LED divisions also saw improvement with revenues increasing 17% to £2.8m and operating losses reduced by 60% to £92,000.
"The LED divisions both had stronger second halves in 2017 with the UK division, in particular, substantially improving its performance. The product range continues to develop with smart lighting controls a key focus for the future. Both divisions were profitable in the second half of the year," said Weinrich.
The AIM-traded company declared a total dividend of 0.50p per share, unchanged from 2016, holds no debt and has cash balances of £579,000.
As of 1051 GMT, Holders Technology's shares were unchanged at 33.50p.