黑洞社区

Revenue and profit were up at brickmaker Michelmersh in the first half of the year. 

The AIM-listed firm鈥檚 interim results, published this morning, showed turnover of 拢42m for the six months to 30 June 2023, up 23.5% on the same period last year. 

The business, which is supplying bricks for Everton鈥檚 Bramley Moore Dock stadium in Liverpool, also reported increased pre-tax profit 鈥� up to 拢6.1m from 拢5.6m. 

Speaking in March after the release of its full-year results for 2022, chief executive Frank Hanna said the business would avoid further price rises in 2023 鈥渨here we can鈥� and speaking to 黑洞社区 again today, he said this remained 鈥渁bsolutely the case鈥�. 

鈥淭he one thing that we want to try and bring back to the marketplace for our end users and our customers is pricing stability,鈥� he said, adding that Michelmersh had hedged its energy costs at around 90% for the remainder of the year. 

鈥淪o we de risked the energy element of it as much as we possibly can to ensure that we鈥檙e holding pricing for longer.鈥� 

As part of its effort to get a handle on energy costs, the business has doubled its solar capacity at its Floren plant in Belgium, with 50% of that facility鈥檚 energy requirements to be met with solar this year. 

It is also in the process of installing new panels at its Blockleys factory in Telford, which will be operational by the end of autumn and will produce around 15% of site needs. 

Last November, the business acquired FabSpeed, an offsite brick product manufacturer, for an initial 拢6.25m. 

Hanna told 黑洞社区 today that the prefab market was 鈥渁 growth area without a shadow of a doubt鈥� but that there was not a 鈥渨holesale move鈥� to these products among its customers. 

Ryan Mahoney, chief financial officer at Michelmersh, said the company was 鈥渁lways looking鈥� for further acquisitions and that there was 鈥渜uite a lot out there鈥� at the moment due to financial stresses in the industry. 

Addressing the current economic headwinds, Hanna said he wanted to see 鈥渋nflation stability and normalisation of interest rates鈥� as the year continued.  

鈥淭here are challenges next year, but for us as a business what we will try and do is make sure we cover as many sectors of the marketplace as we can [鈥�] so we have as broad a portfolio offering as we can.鈥�

He noted that the high-end, luxury housing sector was one of the few areas of the marketplace which was proving robust against the downturn. 

Mahoney said there might be a slight skew toward the first half of the year but anticipated its full-year performance to be in line with HY23. 

An Investec brokers鈥� note on this morning鈥檚 results said Michelmersh鈥檚 numbers presented a strong case for a re-rating of its shares. 

鈥淭he lowly valued shares suggest that the Group鈥檚 strong operational and financial delivery and very robust balance sheet continue to be overlooked by the market,鈥� it said.  

鈥淭he strong first half results and outlook comments demonstrate the quality of the business and its ability to act nimbly in difficult markets to deliver good results.鈥�