Bodycote results encourage markets

The price of shares in Bodycote (LON:BOY) rose by 7.05% to 834.48p (as of 9:30 GMT) after the FTSE 250 firm announced a 12.3% increase in profits before tax for the year ended 31st December. Revenues rose by 5.6%, driven by strong performances in emerging markets, and the civil aviation and specialist technology sectors.

Group chief executive Stephen Harris commented: “2018 has once again demonstrated the strength of Bodycote’s strategy and business. We achieved double-digit growth in Specialist Technologies’ revenues, an excellent performance in our Emerging Markets and robust growth in civil aviation revenues.

“Combined with pricing discipline in the face of significant cost pressures, the Group was able to improve return on sales. Together with the revenue growth this delivered a healthy increase in headline earnings per share. Our performance is testament to the Group’s resilient operating model, with our focus on cashflow generation, operational efficiency and improving returns.

“While we are conscious of the global macro-economic backdrop, we have entered 2019 well positioned and at this early point in the year, our expectations for 2019 remain unchanged“.