Vesuvius PLC on Tuesday said it expects full-year performance to be ‘somewhat’ above expectations, but remains cautious on 2023.
The FTSE-250 London-based molten metal flow engineering firm said consensus for 2022 trading profit amounts to £199.7 million, with a range of £194.0 million to £209.4 million. In 2021, trading profit was £142.4 million.
Vesuvius said the future market fundamentals of both steel and foundry markets remain positive, as it continues to ‘successfully implement strategic initiatives to optimally benefit from this growth, in the medium term’.
However, in the short term, the firm said both steel and foundry end markets continue to weaken as expected, except in India, which has shown moderate growth year-to-date.
Despite the weakened market, Vesuvius expects to deliver results ‘somewhat above the analyst range of expectations for 2022’ due to ‘market share gains, dynamic price management, cost reduction actions and a more gradual unwind of inventory’.
Looking to 2023, Vesuvius said visibility remains low and that it is very difficult to predict the precise timing of a return to growth, but it is preparing to reinforce cost reduction actions. It said it remains cautious with some impact from continuing inventory reduction expected in the first half.
In July, Vesuvius posted a pretax profit of £116.7 million for the six months that ended on June 30, up 78% from £65.5 million the year before as revenue also jumped 21% year-on-year to £1.02 billion from £808.1 million.
Shares were down 1.5% at 383.60 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
