Lead All Investments : PLA's profit

Plastics Capital's H1 pretax profit fell to £0.53m, from a year-ago profit of £1.33m. Revenue was £16.53m, from £16.36m. The prior period included £0.51m forex gain on derivatives and loans. It proposed an interim dividend of 1.33p a share, from 1p a year ago. Executive chairman Faisal Rahmatallah commented: "I am pleased to report good progress in our Packaging Division, where sales and profit growth has been satisfactory and the integration of Shengli is going well. "We have also recently completed a £5.0 million placing to part finance the acquisition of specialist film packaging producer, Flexipol, which will enlarge and strengthen our Packaging Division considerably. "However, as reported in September, slow sales in Europe and customer related delays in bringing new projects into production have affected the Industrial Division. The Board therefore expects the Group to continue to trade in line with expectations for the rest of the financial year." Operational Highlights: · Organic revenue growth of 2.9% in H1 2014-15 vs H1 2013-14 at constant exchange rates, excluding continental Europe · Organic revenue growth in Packaging Division of 4.4% in H1 2014-15 vs H1 2013-14 · Industrial division sales pipeline strengthened to £3.4m of annualised revenue of business won not yet in production · Continued investment in business development activities · Substantial expansion in activities in China following acquisition of Shengli creasing matrix business Post-Period End Highlights: · Successful acquisition of specialist film packaging producer, Flexipol, for maximum consideration of £10.64m · Oversubscribed equity placing to raise £5.0m Story provided by StockMarketWire.com