Dowlais Group, a specialist engineering group in the automotive sector, has reaffirmed its guidance for the full year after announcing a narrowed pretax loss for the first half of the year. The company posted a pretax loss of £55 million ($68.8 million), a significant improvement from the loss of £130 million in the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, pretax profit increased to £139 million from £109 million.
Revenue also saw a positive growth, rising to £2.55 billion from £2.24 billion. The company attributed this increase to margin improvement due to volume increases, operational efficiencies, and improved commercial terms with customers, which helped offset the impacts of inflation.
Despite the positive results, Dowlais Group warned that demand in the second half of the year could be affected by potential strike action in the United States. The company is closely monitoring the situation and the uncertainty it brings to second-half demand.
In addition to its financial performance, Dowlais Group also declared an interim dividend of 1.4 pence per share. However, investors seem cautious as shares were down 5.9% at 120.45 pence as of 0710 GMT.
Dowlais Group completed its demerger from Melrose Industries in April.