Volution Group PLC on Friday declared a higher dividend and reported improved half-year earnings, on the back of a surge in revenue in the UK.

The Crawley, England-based designer and manufacturer of energy-efficient indoor air quality systems said pretax profit jumped 28% to £29.0 million in the six months to January 31 from £22.6 million a year prior.

Revenue rose 6.3% to £172.5 million from £162.3 million.

Notably, UK residential-focused offering led the charge, surging 20% to £49.5 million from £41.4 million. This occurred amid weakness in a ‘difficult’ UK original equipment manufacturer division, where revenue slumped 42% to £7.4 million from £12.7 million.

In Continental Europe, revenue edged up 6.5% to £68.5 million from £64.3 million.

Volution lifted its interim dividend by 12% to 2.8 pence per share from 2.5p.

‘We made strong progress in the first half of the year, against a backdrop of higher interest rates and weaker new build demand. UK residential was once again the standout performer, with tighter regulation and strong social housing demand continuing to drive activity levels,’ Chief Executive Officer Ronnie George said.

‘Our greater exposure to refurbishment supported organic revenue growth in the period, and inorganic growth was strong due to a good performance from our recent acquisitions.’

For the current financial year ending July 31, Volution expects adjusted earnings per share to be ‘slightly ahead of consensus’ of 26.1p. For the first half, its basic adjusted EPS rose 10% to 13.7p from 12.4p, while its adjusted diluted EPS climbed 11% to 13.5p from 12.2p.

Volution shares rose 5.8% to 449.42p each on Friday morning in London.

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