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Iron castings and machining group Castings recommended a dividend despite reporting a fall in profit on lower turnover as the Covid-19 pandemic pressured demand in the second half of the year.
For the year ended 31 March, pre-tax fell to £12.7m from £14m on-year as turnover decreased to £139m from £150m.
The second half of the year saw reduced levels of demand from the commercial vehicle sector and output reduced to approximately 70% of our capacity, the company said
'The final part started in the third week of March 2020 as the impact of Covid-19 started to come through. As a result of plant closures at the OEMs, our demand reduced by approximately 80% and the year end result was negatively affected by approximately £0.75m, it added.
The company recommended the payment of a final dividend of 11.40 pence per share, taking the total dividend for the year to 14.88p a share, up from 14.78p last year.
Looking ahead, production remained 'significantly below pre-Covid-19 levels and the continued uncertainty regarding the economic recovery post-lockdown means that it remains incredibly difficult to predict future demand and therefore whether this initial recovery in demand will be maintained through the year,' the company said.