Severfield-Rowen profit down

STRUCTURAL steel company Severfield-Rowen said first-half pretax profit fell by two-thirds, hurt by a steep fall in net margins.

By The Newsroom

Published 25th Aug 2010, 10:45 BST

Updated 25th Aug 2010, 14:05 BST

The company, which is supplying steel for the Shard London Bridge -projected to be the tallest skyscraper in the European Union after completion - said it continued to take a cautious view of the UK recovery and its timing.

From January to June, underlying pretax profit was 8.2m, compared with 24.6m in the year-ago period. Net margins fell to 6.5 per cent from 12.3 per cent.

Revenue fell 36.7 per cent to 126.7m. Severfield's order book stood at 244m, compared with 256m a year ago.

The company, which competes with Billington Holdings, said it would pay an interim dividend of 5p, down from 10p a year earlier, but level with the payout at the end of 2009.

The Thirsk, North Yorkshire-based company's shares, which have lost nearly eight per cent in value over the last three months, were down 5.7 per cent to 198 pence this morning.