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Structural steel group Severfield posted a 20% drop in first-half profit owing to acquisition-related expenses, though its underlying performance improved on higher revenue.
Pre-tax profit for the six months through September decreased to £6.6 million, down from £8.2 million year-on-year.
Exceptional items included the amortisation of acquired intangible assets of £1.4 million and acquisition-related expenses of £0.4 million.
The amortisation of acquired intangible assets represented the amortisation of customer relationships, order books and brand name, which were identified on the acquisition of Harry Peers.
Revenue rose 40% to £186.0 million and underlying pre-tax profit rose 3% to 3% to £8.4 million.
Severfield held its interim dividend steady at 1.1p per share.
'The resilience provided by our market sector, geographical and client diversity, together with the actions that we have taken to date have enabled us to navigate well through the challenging conditions of Covid-19,' chief executive Alan Dunsmore said.
'This has resulted in a strong operational performance in the first half of the year.'
'We have a strong balance sheet, good visibility of future earnings from our order books and pipelines, and a strong reputation for delivery of complex projects for our long-standing clients.'
'There is now greater clarity of the extent of the impact of Covid-19 on the current year's performance and, on the assumption of no further significant business interruptions arising from any widespread and prolonged secondary lockdown, we expect to improve upon our first half profitability in the second half of the financial year.'
At 9:59am: (LON:SFR) Severfield share price was 0p at 64p