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FW Thorpe PLC on Thursday declared a special dividend on the back of profit growth, but flagged expectations of a challenging backdrop in the second half. For the six months ended in December, the Redditch-based lighting systems maker booked pretax profit of £11.6 million, up 3.1% from £11.2 million in the first half of 2024. Revenue, however, fell 2.4% to £81.7 million from £83.8 million. FW Thorpe’s largest unit, Thorlux, which makes professional lighting systems for industrial, commercial and controls markets, suffered slower sales in Germany, bringing the unit’s revenue down to £46.6 million from £48.8 million. Sales for the Dutch division edged up to £17.2 million from £16.7 million. Zemper, the Spain-based segment which specialises in emergency lighting, enjoyed revenue growth to £11.1 million from £10.2 million. Basic earnings per share rose slightly to 7.86 pence from 7.65p on-year, leading FW Thorpe to raise its interim dividend by 2.8% to 1.81p from 1.76p. In addition, the company declared a special dividend of 2.60p per share, up from none the year prior. FW Thorpe shares were down 1.9% at 269.80 pence on Thursday afternoon in London. Chair Mike Allcock said: ‘With so many markets suffering challenging trading conditions, substantiated by the board’s own market investigations of European listed peers and major lighting components suppliers, the outlook for growth for the second half remains a challenge, especially considering the strong second half achieved in 2024/25. All companies are targeted for growth, but each has its own slightly different set of circumstances to manage.’ Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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