Seafield, the Irish-quoted transport company based in Britain, has announced a sharp rise in 1999 pretax profits and is proposing to pay a dividend for the first time in 10 years.
Profits at the warehousing, transport and distribution group rose to £814,000 sterling (#1.34 million) from £113,000 last year, while turnover was up by 9 per cent to £11.4 million (#18.8 million). Operating profits increased by 49 per cent to £1.2 million. The company is recommending a final dividend of 0.25p sterling per share, to be paid on June 30th, its first such payout since 1989.
During the year, Seafield completed a 165,000 sq ft distribution centre for Van den Bergh Foods, a subsidiary of Unilever. It now owns and operates more than one million square feet of warehousing.
The company has also appointed Albert E Sharp Securities as its financial adviser, and joint broker with Goodbody Stockbrokers. Seafield said it was very aware of the cost pressure on smaller listed companies and had charged Sharp with assisting in defining a strategic path for the group in an effort to maximise shareholder return.
"Because of our size and the sector we're in, we have to be wary of what it costs to be a public company," said chairman Mr Jonathan Glanz. Over the next few months, Sharp would be looking at the whole gamut of options facing the group, he said.
Seafield said it also revalued its properties during the year, resulting in an increase of £1.75 million in shareholders' funds to £12.73 million or 19.2p per share.
