Stuart Peterson

In the six months ended Juen 30, the firm’s sales rose by 26.5% to £133.5m, compared to the same period in 2020. At the same time, operating profit before amortisation and impairment reached £11.1m.

The board now expects that the group’s full-year outlook for 2021 will be ahead of its previous expectations, despite the challenges we are expecting in H2 2021.

Macfarlane Group said that net cash inflow from operating activities of £11.3m reflected increased activity and continuing good management of working capital.

The group’s net bank debt at 30 June 2021 was £8.7m, an increase of £8.1m from 31 December 2020 following £12.2m of investment in the acquisition of GWP and Carters. The firm said it is operating well within its existing bank facility of £30.0m which runs until 31 December 2025.

The firm’s interim dividend also increased by 24.3% to 0.87p per share.

Stuart Paterson, chairman of Macfarlane Group PLC, said: “The performance of the business in the first half of 2021 continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategy and the resilience of our business model.

“We expect the second half of 2021 to be challenging as we anticipate further inflationary pressure on input prices, continuing supply constraints on most raw materials and operating costs increasing due to staffing pressures.

“However, the Group has previously demonstrated effective management of these challenges and, as a result of this and the performance in H1 2021, the Board expects the Group will exceed its previous expectations for the full year.”