Hill & Smith reinstates dividend on brighter outlook; profit falls 42% in H1

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Infrastructure products supplier Hill & Smith reinstated its dividend and said it expected performance to rebound after reporting that first-half profit fell by more than a third.

For the six months ended 30 June 2020, pre-tax profit fell 42% to £19.5m on-year as revenue declined 7% to £315.6m.

The performance had been impacted by 'Covid-19 related business closures and reduced activity levels from the middle of March,' the company said.

The company reinstated its dividend policy and declared an interim dividend of 9.2p per share, down 13% from a year earlier.

'We are seeing a gradual recovery in trading and assuming that end markets continue to remain open, we expect a stronger performance in the second half,' the company said.

At 8:23am: (LON:HILS) Hill Smith Holdings PLC share price was +74p at 1294p