Polymer pipes and components maker Victrex PLC (LON:VCT) it to reward investors with more than £105mln in dividends after reporting a double-digit surge in annual revenue and profits.
The FTSE 250 group saw revenue rise 12% to £326.0mln (2017: £290.2mln) in the 12 months ended September 30, while pre-tax profits jumped 15% to £127.5mln (2017: £111.0mln).
That was on a 10% rise in polymer sales, with the firm selling 4,407 tonnes over the period (2017: 3,992 tonnes).
READ: Victrex sees tougher comparatives ahead
As a result of the strong performance and improved cash conversion, Victrex bosses announced a special dividend of 82.68p per share, alongside a regular dividend of 59.56p.
In total, the pay-outs will see the company return £105.6mln to shareholders.
“This has been a strong year for Victrex, with broad-based growth in our core polymer business and further good progress in our new product pipeline,” said chief executive Jakob Sigurdsson.
“We delivered a range of notable milestones across each of our mega-programmes and we are currently closing in on larger opportunities in Gears, as well as being in advanced discussions for new strategic Aerospace alliances.”
2019 unlikely to be as good
He did warn that the growth seen this year is unlikely to be repeated in 2019, though.
“We expect to make good progress on a constant currency basis, however, adverse currency, no expected volumes in Consumer Electronics and recent market softness in Automotive may hold back our ability to substantially improve on our overall 2018 performance, with these headwinds falling mainly in the first half.”
Shares climbed 1.3% to 2,546p in early trading on Tuesday.