Resilient performance resulting in a successive year of record Group profit before tax despite challenging conditions in Europe and currency headwinds combined with additional capacity and competitive behaviour in the Asian nitrile market;
Non-nitrile businesses in Asia and ROW delivered strong growth, up 20%;
Volumes in Europe and North America impacted by weak demand, but offset by higher unit margins and PolymerLatex synergies;
£19 million of synergy benefits from PolymerLatex achieved in 2012; full £25 million of annualised synergies anticipated in 2013;
57% increase in full year dividend reflects the Board's previously stated commitment to a progressive dividend policy and to move the dividend cover to three times by 2015; and
Net debt reduced to £155.8 million (2011 £164.3 million); prudent net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.2.
Commenting on the results, Adrian Whitfield, Group Chief Executive, said:
"Synthomer delivered a resilient performance in 2012, against challenging market conditions. In Europe, we continued to manage our margins and deliver the synergies arising from the PolymerLatex acquisition. In Asia, our non-nitrile business performed well this year, while the difficult conditions seen in our nitrile business have stabilised and our long term prospects in this area remain strong.
"We have made a solid start to the year. Nevertheless, we expect the macro-economic environment in Europe to continue to result in challenging trading conditions through 2013. Our expectations for the Asian Nitrile market remain unchanged, with improvements expected from the end of this year. With our non-nitrile capacity in Asia fully utilised, we will continue to invest in capacity in emerging markets to build our platform for future growth beyond 2013. We expect demand growth in our emerging markets to remain strong and overall the board remains confident in the Group's long-term prospects and strategy."
