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Respiratory equipment manufacturer and military and police supplier, Avon Rubber (LON:AVON) watched its shares slide on Tuesday, following the publication of its full-year results.
The data showed that the company’s revenue shot up by 30.8% year-on-year, to £168 million, while its closing order book finished 117.4% ahead of the previous year, at £79.8 million.
On an adjusted basis, the company shone throughout the year. Overcoming the challenges of the pandemic, Avon Rubber boasted adjusted operating profits of £30.2 million and adjusted profit before tax of £28.2 million, up by 33.6% and 27% respectively. This trend appeared to be reflected in shareholder income, too, with adjusted basic earnings per share rising 13.8%, to 76.5p, while its dividend bounced 30%, to 27.08p a share.
Despite this, investors refused to look past the company’s statutory data, which showed that profits fell by 40.40% year-on-year, down from £9.9 million, to £5.9 million. Similarly, on a statutory basis, profit before tax collapsed 94.25%, from £8.7 million, to £0.5 million. This set of results reflected the costs of the company’s strategic acquisitions of 3M’s ballistic helmet and armour business, and Team Wendy – with the latter completed at the start of November.
Speaking on the company’s performance through the year and on building a strong foundation for the future, Paul MacDonald, CEO< said: “2020 has been a year of both significant strategic evolution and strong organic execution for Avon Rubber. We have again delivered strong results ahead of expectations and continued to make significant steps transforming the business into a leading provider of life critical personal protection products.”
“We have consistently delivered on our strategy to invest in expanding our product portfolio to meet more of the protection needs of our customers. This has enabled us to build a broader and more visible long-term contract portfolio to position the business to deliver further growth in 2021 and beyond.”
Following the update, Avon Rubber shares shed 6.71%, down to 4,314.83p apiece 13:00 GMT 02/12/20. This saw the company fall from its year-to-date high of 4,625.00p, though still over 15% ahead of analysts’ target price of 3,746p a share.
Analysts currently have a consensus ‘Buy’ rating on the stock, alongside a 62.79% ‘outperform’ stance from the Marketbeat community. It has a hefty p/e ratio of 103.48, and a dividend yield of 0.51%.