Vesuvius sees 'modest' rise in FY expectations

(Sharecast News) - Molten metal flow engineering and technology specialist Vesuvius "modestly" lifted full-year guidance despite a fall in interim profits driven by lower steel production. Pre-tax profit for the six months to June 30 fell 19% to £95m, the company said on Thursday. The board declared an interim dividend of 6.8p a share, up 5% year on year.

Steel production in the world excluding China and Iran, which accounts for approximately 90% of Vesuvius' Steel division sales, had started to recover in the second quarter from the low levels of the previous six months but the pace of the recovery was "uncertain, in particular in the long steel sector, affected by the general weakness of the construction sector", the company said.

"Despite difficult market conditions, especially in the steel sector, we have performed well in the first half of the year, exceeding expectations, thanks, in particular, to a very resilient pricing performance."

"We expect to maintain pricing discipline in the second half of the year, and we are progressing our efforts to gain market share through technological differentiation. As a consequence, noting typical seasonality and despite remaining macro-economic uncertainties, we feel confident to modestly increase our full year expectations."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com