The AIM-listed company said its group revenues in the third quarter were ahead of expectations “as a result of stronger than anticipated demand.”


Plastic bearings

Faisal Rahmatallah, Plastics’ executive chairman, said: "Trading conditions are generally good"

Plastics Capital PLC (LON:PLA) has revealed that profits for the current financial year “remain on track to meet market expectations.”

In a trading update this morning, the AIM-listed company – a specialist in plastic products used by industry – said its group revenues in the third quarter were ahead of expectations “as a result of stronger than anticipated demand.”

The firm added: “Gross profit margins remain good but a little lower than historically, due to the changing business mix resulting from the acquisition of Synpac.

“We have meanwhile increased investment in sales, marketing and new product development across the group to continue to drive the growth of the business”.

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Faisal Rahmatallah, Plastics’ executive chairman, said: "Trading conditions are generally good and we are busy implementing the investments we have previously highlighted as key to fulfilling the Group's five year strategy."

He added: “Overall, we anticipate that performance over the second half of the financial year will enable us to announce results that are in line with market expectations."

The group said trading in its Industrial Division was strong in the third quarter, with good sales of bearings and mandrels and growing demand from its US customer base.

Meanwhile, its Films division experienced a mixed trading period, with its Flexipol and Synpac arms both performing well, but its Palagan unit experiencing some weakness as Plastics adjusted its business strategy to better position the unit for the future.

In a note to clients, Allenby analyst Ian Jermin said: “Progress across the group remains very encouraging and we retain our conviction that Plastics Capital is a well-financed, cash generative, growth business that should deliver attractive returns over the coming years.”

He added that “our forecasts for FY16/17 and FY17/18 remain largely unchanged as does our short-term fair value of 140p.”

In early trading, Plastics’ shares were steady at 122p.

In its results for the six months to September 30, released at the start of December, Plastics’ sales were up 13.4% at £27.8mln, meanwhile, operating profit increased by just under 11% to £2.7mln.

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