Agriculture and engineering group Carr’s Group PLC (LON:CARR) expects full-year results to be “slightly ahead of its previous expectations” with the good momentum reported earlier in the year continuing.
The company, which makes animal feed as well as specialist equipment for nuclear power stations, only upgraded its forecasts back in April, driven by a strong performance in its agriculture division.
READ: Carr’s raises forecasts after strong H1
But the shares, which have gained more than a third since that interim update, dropped 3.5% to 159.2p on Wednesday morning.
Carr’s said current trading across the group is better than it had expected and “significantly ahead” of this time last year across both arms of its business.
A recovering cattle market in the US has boosted feed sales across the pond, while sales in Europe and Europe both continue to grow as well. Feed block volumes in the UK “remain on track”, too.
In the engineering division, the “strong recovery” of the UK manufacturing business continues and order books remain solid, while the recent acquisitions of STABER and NuVision are bedding in well.
Dividend hiked
“We are pleased to announce a strong performance during the period, across both our Agriculture and Engineering divisions,” said chief executive Tim Davies.
“We have seen continued improvement in UK Agriculture, reflecting improved farm incomes and farmer confidence, and strong feed block sales, both in the UK and internationally.
“The performance of our Engineering division continues to improve, with recent acquisitions integrating well and further orders continuing to add strength to the order book.”
Reflecting management’s confidence, Carr’s has upped its second interim dividend payment to 1.075p from 0.95p this time last year.