Hill & Smith PLC on Wednesday posted higher annual profit and revenue, boosted its dividend, and said it expects another year of ‘good progress’ in 2025.
Shares in Hill & Smith were up 11% at 1,922.00 pence in London on Wednesday morning.
The infrastructure solutions provider reported a pretax profit in 2024 of £104.5 million for 2024, up 12% from £93.2 million in 2023. Diluted earnings per share rose 10% to 93.9 pence from 85.0p.
Revenue grew 3.0% to £855.1 million from £829.8 million.
Chief Executive Officer Rutger Helbing said: ‘Hill & Smith has delivered another record set of results, underpinned by the excellent performance in our US businesses, which continue to benefit from strong demand for our infrastructure solutions.
‘We have continued to actively manage our portfolio with four complementary acquisitions, and the successful divestment of two of our non-core, loss-making businesses at the beginning of 2025 further improves the quality of the portfolio.’
Revenue in the North America region rose 9.8% to £507.8 million from £462.4 million, offsetting a 5.4% decline in UK revenue to £302.1 million from £319.5 million.
The company said UK trading remained ‘resilient’ despite a challenging market backdrop, with subdued demand from public sector customers, particularly ahead of the general election.
Hill & Smith raised its final dividend by 16% to 32.5 pence per share from 28.0p, bringing the total payout for the year up 14% to 49.0p from 43.0p in 2023.
The firm also outlined a new medium-term financial framework, targeting annual organic revenue growth of 5% to 7% and total revenue growth of 10%.
Looking ahead, CEO Helbing said: ‘I am excited about the potential for the group going forward as we continue to build on the strong momentum, and we expect another year of good progress in 2025.’
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