"Vesuvius is a global leader in metal flow engineering, developing, manufacturing and marketing mission-critical ceramic consumable products and systems to demanding applications, primarily in the global steel and foundry industries. Vesuvius also supplies fabricated precious metals to the jewellery industry in Europe and has significant precious metals recycling operations."

Both Vesuvius Plc & Alent Plc are seperate companies created from the demerger of Cookson Plc in Dec 2012.

http://www.vesuvius.com/en/

StockMarketWire.com
Vesuvius' H1 pretax profit has slipped to £38.2m, from £51.4m, as revenue eased to £668.3m, from £702.6m. Interim dividend was 5.15p, unchanged on the year. Its FY outlook remains unchanged.

CEO Francois Wanecq commented:
"We have delivered an encouraging result in the first half of 2016, with an improvement in financial performance relative to the second half of 2015.

"This reflects the strength of our market position and progress in implementing our self-help initiatives and ongoing restructuring programme.

"Our end markets in steel and foundry are showing signs of stabilisation, although we expect them to remain at relatively weak levels for the remainder of the year.

"Based on our strategic and operational progress in the first half, and assuming current exchange rates continue for the rest of the year, our full year expectations remain unchanged.

"We remain confident in our ability to capitalise on any recovery in our addressable markets in the medium term."

Third Quarter 2016 Trading Update
Vesuvius plc, a global leader in molten metal flow engineering, releases the following Trading Update covering trading in the period from 1 July to 30 September 2016.

SUMMARY
Since the announcement of our half year results in July and as anticipated, end markets have remained subdued overall. We expect this to continue for the balance of the year. However, the delivery of self-help and restructuring measures will continue to benefit profit margins, and we have further increased our 2017 annualised savings target. As set out below, recent and current foreign exchange trends are having a beneficial impact on trading profit.

TRADING
Since the announcement of our 2016 Half Year results in July, steel markets have remained relatively flat with the latest World Steel Association global production statistics (ex China) showing a decline of 1.5% versus last year. This is being partly mitigated by growth in India on the back of good domestic demand and growth in exports. Foundry markets remain mixed with auto and heavy truck sales varying by region while other foundry sectors such as agriculture, mining and rail remain challenging. In total, excluding the impact of foreign exchange movements, Group sales year to date remain in line with our expectations.

RESTRUCTURING
Ongoing progress is being made in the delivery of the previously stated restructuring programme with the recent announcement of two plant closures at Avezzano and Cagliari in Italy. These and the other restructuring measures previously announced lead us to increase our annualised savings target by £5m to £30m by the end of 2017 at a cost of £40m (previously £35m).

FOREIGN EXCHANGE
The Group's results have benefited from a foreign exchange tailwind during 2016 with most global currencies strengthening against Sterling between December 2015 and September 2016. In particular, there has been a significant movement since June as a result of the UK's decision to leave the EU. Average exchange rates of Sterling to US Dollar and Euro have fallen by 8.8% and 9.3%, respectively, between FY 2015 and 2016 YTD. This has provided a trading profit benefit of approximately £7m year to date. Assuming current foreign exchange rates continue, the estimated benefit would increase to £11m for the full year.

EFFECTIVE TAX RATE
During the year, the regional mix of where we earn profits has shifted away from lower rate to higher rate tax regimes. This is expected to result in our full year effective tax rate increasing to around 28% (previously 25.5%).

FINANCIAL POSITION
We have continued to generate strong cash flows during the quarter although the positive impact this should have had on net debt has been offset by the ongoing translation impact of a weaker Sterling to both the US Dollar and Euro. We are continuing to focus on tight working capital management in order to release cash.

Peel Hunt today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) and raised its price target to 480p (from 410p).

It just can't keep it's head above 400 for any length of time. I suspect Artisan to continue to offload as they appear to be doing on any number of stocks into this rally.

StockMarketWire.com
Vesuvius has turned in an improved FY pretax profit of £79.4m, from £77.4m, after a resilient performance for the 12-month period.

Revenue was £1.4bn, from £1.3bn. Dividend was 16.55p, from 16.275p.

"We delivered an encouraging set of results in 2016 in challenging market conditions and made important progress towards our strategic and operating objectives, in particular, growth in return on sales as a result of the restructuring programme," said CEO Francois Wanecq.

"Our resilience reflects the strength of our customer relationships, built on our proven ability to offer innovation, reliability and efficiency."

He added that whilst the trading environment remained broadly stable, Vesuvius had seen early signs of improvement in 2017.

"Following our cost improvement efforts, we are well positioned to benefit from any recovery in demand and we will continue to focus on creating value for our customers and shareholders alike.

"We remain confident of making further progress, both in the near and longer term."

Up 20% today. Sadly sold most of mine before the results for what was a pleasing profit. Last lot sold today at 519 and time for me to find the next opportunity

StockMarketWire.com
Vesuvius said that whilst it is still early in the year, and recognising the inherent uncertainty in predicting end market resilience, its expectations for 2017 trading performance are cautiously optimistic.

"At our year-end results in early March, we highlighted encouraging early signs of improvement in the global market environment," the company said.

It added that this trend had continued since then across Vesuvius' major regions, resulting in delivery of a strong Q1 2017 in comparison to a relatively weak Q1 2016.

Vesuvius had benefited in Q1 2017 from the 5.7% year-on-year growth in global steel production, as reported by the World Steel Association.

"However, this Q1 2017 increase in global steel production is off the relatively low base of Q1 2016 and full year 2017 growth expectations for the market are materially lower than this figure.

"In Foundry, the market environment remains mixed with light vehicles slowing in the USA and static in the rest of the world. Heavy truck and mining sales are showing slight signs of recovery but this varies by region."

Vesuvius said it continued to make progress in the delivery of its restructuring program.

"The total targeted annual savings now stand at £40m, up from £35m, whilst associated costs remain unchanged at £45m. We continue to assess restructuring opportunities across our businesses which could potentially yield further savings in the future," the company said.

"All things being equal, based on the average exchange rates in Q1 2017, and were current spot foreign exchange rates to persist for the remainder of 2017, this would have increased our 2016 Trading Profit by approximately 7%."

Peel Hunt today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) and raised its price target to 740p (from 700p).

JP Morgan Cazenove today reaffirms its overweight investment rating on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) and raised its price target to 730p (from 710p).

Barclays Capital today initiates coverage of Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) with a underweight investment rating and price target of 500p.

StockMarketWire.com
Vesuvius, the molten metal flow engineering company, has raised €100 million in a US private placement.

The new US private placement notes, which carry a fixed rate of interest, were issued in two series: €50 million at 1.90% maturing in December 2027; and €50 million at 2.12% maturing in December 2029.

The notes will be used for repayment of existing indebtedness, primarily the US$110m, 4.26% coupon, US private placement maturing on 16 December 2017.

Vesuvius' annual interest costs will decline by approximately £1.8m as a result of this refinancing and the weighted average maturity of its committed debt facilities now stands at approximately six years, versus approximately four years at year-end 2016.

StockMarketWire.com
Vesuvius, the molten metal flow engineering company, increased its underlying revenue by 12.5% to £1,683.9m in 2017.

The company's underlying trading profit rose by 16.1% to £165.5m, with the return on sales up 30 basis points to 9.8%.

The group benefitted from a 5.3% increase in global steel production up 5.3% in 2017.

However, steel production growth in the world excluding China was supported by a significant decrease in Chinese steel exports, which may not repeat in 2018.

Performance in China was particularly strong, with 9.2% underlying revenue growth. The company benefitted from the trend in China towards higher quality steel requiring higher quality products and value creating solutions.

In the relatively mature regions of Europe and the US, the company achieved revenue growth of 7.6% and 8%, respectively. This outperformance was supported by increased penetration of its value-creating solutions; new product launches, especially in Foundry; and an increased focus on strategic customers.

Restructuring savings of £16.2m were achieved in 2017 and total targeted savings from the existing restructuring programme, mainly in Flow Control, increased from £55m to £60m.

Vesuvius has launched a new restructuring programme targeting £15m of annual savings by 2020 in its other businesses.

The full year dividend has been increased by 8.8% to 18 pence per share.

Investec today reaffirms its hold investment rating on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) and raised its price target to 650p (from 580p).

Morgan Stanley today reaffirms its equal weight investment rating on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) and raised its price target to 660p (from 610p).

HSBC today reaffirms its hold investment rating on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) and set its price target at 675p.

StockMarketWire.com
Vesuvius, the molten metal flow engineering company, exceeded its trading expectations in the first quarter thanks to positive market conditions and good progress in addressing the temporary headwinds it faced in 2017.

The board expects trading for the full year to be marginally above previous guidance, despite a foreign exchange headwind.

In the first quarter, the group benefitted from continued growth in steel production, which has increased 2.8% year-on-year in the world excluding China and 4.1% including China. In Foundry, the market environment remains positive across the majority of markets.

Vesuvius' sales volume growth has continued to outperform underlying market growth.

For raw materials, the group's price pass through has been implemented and the headwind addressed. Flow Control's European production has been ramped up and met the increased demand experienced in Q1 2018.

The net impact of exchange rates has been a Q1 2018 headwind of approximately £1.6m, the main driver being a 7.9% strengthening in Sterling against the US Dollar. All things being equal, if month end March 2018 rates were to persist for the remainder of the year, this would impact the 2018 trading profit by approximately 4.7%.

JP Morgan Cazenove today reaffirms its overweight investment rating on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) and raised its price target to 760p (from 745p)

Jefferies International today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) and raised its price target to 740p (from 725p).

HY Results : http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=6066828

Patrick André, Chief Executive of Vesuvius, commented:
"We had a strong H1 2018, delivering our best half year revenue, trading profit and return on sales since we became an independent company in 2012. We continued to outperform underlying markets thanks to the growth in demand for our value-creating solutions, supported by our increasing investment in R&D. We are cautiously optimistic regarding H2 2018 performance as the environment in our key end markets remains positive. This strength in underlying markets and our continuing implementation of self-help measures underpins our confidence that our full year trading profit (EBITA) will be marginally above the current consensus market expectation of c.£189m(1). Looking beyond 2018, we believe in our ability to deliver further organic improvement in our profit margins as we implement our strategy and deliver on our restructuring programmes."

Berenberg today initiates coverage of Vesuvius (LON:VSVS) with a hold investment rating and price target of 660p.

StockMarketWire.com
Molten metal flow engineering group Vesuvius warned that unfavorable currency movements would impact its full-year profit.

The impact of exchange-rate movements during 2018 had increased since the company's first-half results, due primarily to further currency depreciation in developing markets.

'Without this increased foreign exchange headwind our expectations for full year trading profit would have been approximately 5% higher,' the company said.

Still, Vesuvius said it expected its full-year Ebita to be in-line with current consensus market expectations, even after taking FX headwinds into account.

'We continue to deliver a strong performance across all business units and regions of the world,' the company said.