Hargreaves Services posts rise in profits

COAL miner Hargreaves Services reported an 18.7 per cent rise in first-half underlying pre-tax profit and raised its dividend by nearly 16 per cent.

By The Newsroom

Published 16th Feb 2010, 08:24 BST

Updated 16th Feb 2010, 09:16 BST

The company also said it remained confident of achieving its full-year expectations.

For the six months ended November 30, the supplier of products and services to the energy and mineral sectors, reported a pre-tax profit of 16.5m before items, compared with 13.9m a year ago.

Revenue fell 28.6 per cent to 211.6m due to a decline in average commodity prices and sales from transport and production divisions.

The company, which owns Yorkshire's Maltby colliery, increased its interim dividend to 4.4 pence per share from 3.8 pence last year.

Hargreaves shares closed at 695 pence on Monday on the London Stock Exchange.

Yorkshire