The Ibstock Board has decided to pay an interim dividend of 2.5 pence (2020: nil; 2019: 3.2 pence), reflecting the performance and cash generation of the business in the half, and the Board's confidence in the longer term outlook for the Group.
Other financial highlights include:
●Strong trading performance with Group revenue for the six months to 30 June 2021 of £202 million up by 54% (2020: £131 million, 2019 £203 million). On a like-for-like basis, revenues were around 94% of 2019 levels
●Group adjusted EBITDA of £55 million materially above £10 million in H1 2020 reflecting robust recovery, and within 7% of H1 2019 adjusted EBITDA of £59 million
●Clay division revenues of £138m representing 92% of 2019, with sales volumes ahead of expectations and adjusted EBITDA margin of 34%, in line with HY 2019
●Concrete division revenues of £64m were 22% above 2019, or in line on a like-for-like basis with like-for-like adjusted EBITDA margin of 20.6%, marginally ahead of HY 2019
●Statutory profit before tax of £39 million (2020: loss of £52 million) reflects strong recovery from COVID-impacted period in 2020 and reduced exceptional costs with a net exceptional gain of £5 million (2020: exceptional cost of £35 million), and within 5% of H1 2019 profit before tax of £41 million
●Expected cost savings of £10 million captured in full during the period (being half of their annualised target of £20 million from FY20 restructuring), with good fixed cost discipline across the business
●Strong free cash flow and robust balance sheet with 0.6x net debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio at period end, down from 1.5x at 2020 year-end, and 1.6x at H1 2020 period end
