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Chemicals and personal care business Elementis swung to a loss in the first half of the year, amid challenging conditions across all its businesses in the second quarter owing to the impact of Covid-19.
For the six months ended June 30, the company reported a pre-tax loss of $53.4m, compared with a profit of $48.6m on-year as revenue fell 14% to $387m.
The fall in revenue was principally drive by the COVID-19 related impact on second-quarter volumes across industrial end markets.
But the company said it had seen a 'modest' sequential improvement in June and July trading from May volume trough as countries began to emerge from lockdown and industrial production improved.
Looking ahead, the company said it would target cost savings of $15m and $7m of working capital savings in 2020, in an effort to optimise earnings and 'significantly' reduce its net debt at the year end.
At 9:08am: (LON:ELM) Elementis PLC share price was -3.75p at 75.25p