Scott Technology says its half-year results reflect the "positive momentum" being gained as its new strategy takes hold and most regions begin the recovery from Covid-19.
The Dunedin automation and robotics company has posted revenue of $104.5million for the six months to February 28, up 5% from the prior comparative period.
Ebitda of $11.2million recovered to exceed the pre-Covid-19 performance of $10.4million from the first half of FY19.
Net profit after tax was $4.7million for the six months, which compared with a $13.7million net loss in the preceding corresponding period.
Net debt of $2.9million remained stable relative to the FY20 year-end position of $3.4million.
Directors declared an interim (unimputed) divided of 2c per share.
In its announcement to the market, Scott Technology said forward work programmes in Europe, the United States, China and Australasia had grown firmly from this time a year ago as new system design and build contracts had been awarded at a steady and focused pace over recent months.
The product and service businesses were continuing to show strong recovery and positive margin performances.
The mining products and parts business Rocklabs, together with the BladeStop product revenues into the meat industry, were showing strong growth on the previous year, while service revenues across several key markets were also growing.
Those revenues streams were all supported by the streamlined operating cost structure now in place following last year’s restructure across all regions and group head office, that was seeing an increase in margins, the firm said.
The effects of the pandemic still being felt deeply across the group as travel restrictions within markets and across continents often prevented sales meetings in person and continued to inhibit some projects.
However, the Scott team, adapting to new ways of working, had had many examples of positive progress despite the challenges, the firm said.
There was a growing appetite from within the European Union food industry in particular to restart investment in capacity expansion projects, while demand signals for its meat business — products and systems — and mining products business continued to remain positive.
Good progress had been made on the Scott 2025 strategy that was introduced along with the 2020 half-year results last May.
It had secured significant repeat business across all sectors, including with Rio Tinto, Alliance Group, Little Swan, Bosch, Candy Haier and McCain and there had been positive growth across its Rocklabs sample preparation and BladeStop product businesses.
There had been a significant decrease in lost-time injuries, and continued focus on employee retention, development and wellness. The company had delivered sustainable margin improvement across all regions and there was a positive pipeline of forward work.
- A profile on Scott Technology’s chief executive, John Kippenberger, will feature in tomorrow’s Otago Daily Times.
