Carr's Group Plc – Interim Results

Financial highlights

Net debt of £16.1m (£14.1m net debt at 2 September 2017)

Commercial highlights

·   Strong performance in UK Agriculture with steadily increasing farm incomes continuing to reinforce confidence in the outlook for the industry

·    Feed volumes increased 6.3% driven by the successful integration of recent acquisitions and increased market demand

·     Global feed block sales continued to perform well with sales volumes up 11.2%

·     Recovery in the USA feed block market continued as expected

·     Strong recovery achieved across our Engineering businesses

·     New MD appointed for the Engineering division

·     Integration of NuVision continues to progress as planned

Tim Davies, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“We are very pleased with the performance of the Group during the first half of the year, which slightly exceeded the Board's expectations for the period. This strong performance demonstrates the excellent recovery made in our Engineering division and builds upon the strategic progress made during the last year.

In UK Agriculture, we now have greater visibility on the impact Brexit may have in relation to direct payments to farmers in the near term, although uncertainty remains on the issue of trade agreements both within the EU and the rest of the world. The clarity relating to direct support, together with improving farm incomes, means we are starting to see renewed confidence in the outlook for the industry. Our Engineering business is recovering well and we have strengthened management to drive further growth.

Trading in the second half has started well and the Board now anticipates that trading for the full year will be slightly ahead of its previous expectations. We are confident that our breadth of product offering, investments in acquisitions and research, and our international footprint leaves us well positioned for further growth across both our divisions in the medium term.”