Elementis PLC on Thursday said it expects its 2024 performance to be ‘slightly above’ the top end of the current range of market expectations, following a strong first half.
Elementis is a chemicals company based in London. It manufactures ingredients for consumer and industrial products for a variety of industries.
Elementis reported a 5.2% increase in revenue to $382.6 million for the six months that ended June 30 from $363.8 million a year before.
However, it swung to a pretax loss of $25.8 million from a $34.9 million profit a year before. Administrative costs more than doubled to $114.8 million for the half from $41.9 million a year before. These costs were driven by an asset impairment, Elementis said.
Elementis announced an interim dividend of 1.1 cents. It did not pay a dividend in 2023.
Elementis shares were up 2.5% to 163.80 pence per share in London on Thursday morning.
Looking ahead, the firm said it plans to upgrade its profit expectations for the full year and remains confident in delivering its targets for 2026. It expects an adjusted operating profit of $118 million for 2024, at the top end of current market expectations of between $115 million to $120 million. This will be up from $103.9 million in 2023.
Chief Executive Officer Paul Waterman commented: ‘Elementis delivered a strong first half performance, reflecting both continued strategic progress and the benefits of self-help actions. We delivered a much-improved operating margin of 17%, which takes us significantly closer to our 2026 target of 19% [and above] and demonstrates the progress we are making as a high quality, high value specialty additives business.’
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