(Alliance News) - Samuel Heath & Sons PLC on Friday reported a rise in its interim revenue but suffered a drop in profit due to rising costs.

The Birmingham-based shower and bathroom accessory manufacturer said sales for the six months that ended on September 30 increased 9.5% to GBP7.6 million from GBP6.9 million the year before, largely due to "currency movements".

"The strength of the dollar compared to sterling has had a materially beneficial effect as a significant proportion of our foreign sales is denominated in dollars", the company explained.

Pretax profit, however, dropped by 33% to GBP521,000 from GBP776,000, as selling and distribution costs rose to GBP2.0 million from GBP1.5 million the year before.

Samuel Heath & Sons said costs increased "disproportionately" since last year as expected.

"As might be expected, we have been adversely affected by the general rise in energy and other costs, with our combined electricity and gas cost more than doubling. Avoiding supply chain disruption has also been a key concern and we have had to increase order lead times and build stock levels, so as to minimise delays in production," the company said.

It declared an interim dividend of 5.5 pence per share, unchanged from a year prior.

Looking ahead, the company said it's "hesitant" to predict a result for the second half of the year due to "strains on the supply chain" and increasing concern of the labour market.

In July, Samuel Heath had said reported a pretax profit of GBP2.0 million in the year which ended March 31. This was more than tripled from GBP620,000 the year before. Revenue grew 22% to GBP14.0 million from GBP11.5 million.

Shares were flat at 590.00 pence each on Friday morning in London.

By Xindi Wei; xindiwei@alliancenews.com

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