Synthomer PLC on Tuesday said is loss widened in 2023 as revenue dropped, but said it has been taking ‘decisive actions’ for longer term growth.

Shares in Synthomer jumped 33% to 190.36 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.

The Essex, England-based chemicals manufacturer said revenue fell 15% to £1.97 billion in 2023 from £2.33 billion the year before, due to a reduction in volume and pass through of lower raw material input prices, the firm explained.

Pretax loss widened significantly to £106.8 million from £34.2 million as a result.

Further, the firm swung to an underlying pretax loss of £27.2 million from a £123.7 million underlying pretax profit in 2022.

Looking ahead, Synthomer said trading since the start of 2024 has been ‘cautiously encouraging’, due to short-term restocking by customers. ‘We remain confident that Synthomer’s medium-term earnings power is more than double recent levels, through a combination of our near-term actions, end market volume recovery and strategic delivery,’ it added.

Commenting on the firm’s results, Chief Executive Officer Michael Willome said: ‘Despite a challenging year, we have taken decisive actions to position the business well for the future. We remain focused on enhancing our strong positions in key end-markets, optimising our portfolio and cost position, and demonstrating the cash generative nature of our business. In the medium term, we remain confident that Synthomer’s earnings power is more than double recent levels, through a combination of our near-term self-help actions, end market recovery and delivery of our speciality solutions strategy.’

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