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Coral Products PLC on Tuesday bemoaned the impact of challenging market conditions, after swinging to an annual pretax loss. The Manchester, England-based company operates a group of specialist businesses involved in the design, UK manufacture and omni-channel supply of a wide range of bespoke plastic products. For the year ended April 30, the firm swung to a pretax loss of £900,000 from £1.3 million profit a year prior, and a basic loss per share of 1.02 pence each from earnings per share of 1.44p. Group sales also worsened, declining to £31.0 million from £35.2 million the previous year. According to Coral, this result reflected a challenging trading period in the second half of the financial year as well as the strategic exit of lower margin businesses. These accounted for around £2.5 million of annualised sales. Coral Products proposed a final dividend payment per share of 0.25p, in addition to an interim dividend of the same amount paid in August, making a full-year dividend of 0.5p. This compared to 1.1p a year prior. Looking ahead, Coral said that markets have continued to be challenging in the first four months of the year, adding that while there are pockets of recovery, ‘they are in the lower margin channels leading to an overall negative margin mix’. However, benefits from investments made in new machinery last year are expected to begin to flow into the business in the second half of this financial year. Shares in Coral Products fell 14% to 9.70p each in London on Tuesday at noon. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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