(Alliance News) - Carclo PLC on Wednesday said its "strategic transformation" is already showing early signs of progress after reporting an annual loss.

The West Yorkshire, England-based engineering solutions provider for the medical, optical and aerospace industries said that in the financial year that ended March 31, it swung to a pretax loss of GBP2.5 million from a pretax profit of GBP5.9 million the year before.

This was partly due GBP4.7 million in exceptional costs, mostly for rationalisation, swung from a gain of GBP721,000 the year before, as well as a 29% increase in finance expenses to GBP4.0 million.

Revenue grew by 12% to GBP143.4 million from GBP128.6 million, driven by growth across all divisions, Carclo explained.

Cash generation also improved. Cash from operations rose by 15% to GBP7.8 million from GBP6.8 million the year before.

Carclo did not propose a final dividend for the year, unchanged from a year prior, and said it will not be making a dividend payment to shareholders up until June 2025.

Looking ahead, the company said its outlook is positive and will implement a new strategic approach to "navigate challenges and capitalise on opportunities."

Chief Executive Officer Frank Doorenbosch said: "We have full confidence in our new strategy and leadership team, feeling that the best is yet to come."

Shares in Carclo were down 1.8% at 12.74 pence each in London on Wednesday morning.

By Sabrina Penty, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.