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Dewhurst Group PLC on Wednesday struck a cautious tone predicting a tricky second half of the financial year due to difficulties in North America, the UK and Australia. ‘We expect a challenging second half of the year, with headwinds impacting on our growth prospects in several key markets,’ the London-based supplier of components to the lift, transport and keypad industries said. Dewhurst said ongoing uncertainty surrounding trade tariffs continues to affect confidence levels and cause delays in construction projects in North America. The UK lift market has experienced some softening this year, exacerbated by weak UK economic performance, the firm added. ‘Persistent inflation, tight public sector spending and current subdued business confidence is also likely to make for a tough second half, however, there are opportunities for growth if the market stabilises,’ Dewhurst said. ‘Orders in Australia have been mixed this year, and we are implementing a reorganisation to improve customer focus; this will impact on the second half, but the investment should improve future performance.’ In response, shares in Dewhurst were down 17% to 725.00 pence in London on Wednesday morning. The cautious outlook came as Dewhurst said pretax profit rose 5.1% to £4.1 million in the six months to March 31 from £3.9 million a year prior, as revenue increased by 1.9% to £31.6 million from £31.0 million. The increase in revenue was driven by non-UK businesses, and specifically the Keypad division, which continued the recovery shown last year, although demand continues to fluctuate, Dewhurst said. Modest growth in non-UK Lift businesses was outweighed by a drop in revenue at the UK Lift businesses, while the Transport division continued with solid growth in revenue and profit, the company added. Operating profit rose to £3.8 million from £3.7 million with an operating profit margin of 12.1%, up from 11.8% a year before. Basic and diluted earnings per share increased 11% to 36.39 pence from 32.92p. The interim dividend was unchanged at 5.0p per share. Dewhurst described first-half performance as ‘solid’ and said the improvement in operating profit margin is ‘encouraging’. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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