Reuters: Hot Stocks: UPDATE 1-Vesuvius stems profit slide; shares rise

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 1-Vesuvius stems profit slide; shares rise Aug 2nd 2013, 09:13 Fri Aug 2, 2013 5:13am EDT * First-half revenue rises 6 pct to 773 mln stg from second-half of 2012 * Trading profit up 39 pct from second half of 2012 * Sells low-margin refractory business in Canada * Shares up 7 pct, among top FTSE 250 midcap gainers (Adds details, analyst comments; share movement) Aug 2 (Reuters) - Vesuvius Plc, a maker of ceramic moulds and lining for steelmakers and foundries, stemmed a slide in profit, helped by a stabilisation in demand and the disposal of its low-margin businesses. Shares in Vesuvius, which was formed in December when Cookson Group split into two companies, were up 7 percent at 470.6 pence at 0849 GMT, making them one of the biggest percentage gainers on the FTSE-250 Midcap Index. Trading profit at Vesuvius, which has sold its non-core businesses to focus on the steel and foundry markets, fell 11 percent to 71 million pounds ($108 million) in the six months ended June 30. However, profit was 39 percent higher than the second half of 2012, when the company was hurt by a sharp downturn in its key European and North American steel markets. "That (second half of last year) was the base period that we were sort of looking at. They've done better than that and I think this is sort of making people think what is possible," said Investec analyst Michael Blogg. Oriel Securities analyst Harry Phillips said that he had expected a small decline from the second half of 2012 after the company said in March that trading was broadly similar to the latter half of last year. Revenue fell 5.6 percent to 773 million pounds in the first half, but was 6 percent higher than the preceding half year. Steel division revenue fell 3.2 percent to 514 million pounds. Steel production fell 5.4 percent in its key North American market in the first half of the year, while it dipped 3.9 percent in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Europe and North America account for 70 percent of Vesuvius' Steel division revenue. The company said activity levels in September, when major steel and foundry customers in Europe usually resume operations after summer shutdowns, would be an important driver of performance for the rest of the year. RESTRUCTURING STARTS TO PAY OFF Vesuvius sold its precious metals processing business, which recycles and provides semi-finished gold, silver and platinum to the jewellery industry, for 56.8 million euros last month. It also exited its money-losing solar crucibles business late last year. The exits helped improve margins to 9.2 percent from 7.1 percent in the preceding half year. The company had earlier this year announced plans to cut 850 jobs, or 8 percent of its workforce. Vesuvius said on Friday that it had sold a small, low-margin refractory installation business in Canada after the end of the first half. The unit generated revenue of 9.5 million pounds in the first half of the year. "They're talking about further restructuring, in effect sort of taking out low-margin businesses, or selling them rather. So looks as if this is a management team on the front foot which is good news," Blogg said. ($1 = 0.6596 British pounds) (Reporting by Abhishek Takle and Roshni Menon in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions