Coats Group Plc, the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer, has rolled out its unaudited half-yearly financial report for the current year.
The revenue of the Group is up 5 per cent to US $ 740 million during the first six months of the year which ended on 30th June 2017, the report claims.
On CER basis, the adjusted operating profit of Coats Group surged by 14 per cent. The surge in margins of Industrial and Crafts (business divisions of Coats) by 50 basis points and 260 basis points, respectively, resulted in overall growth of the company.
Clothing and Footwear segment also recorded an impressive growth of 7 per cent, whereas performance materials witnessed a hike of 18 per cent on the Y-o-Y basis.
The adjusted Earnings per Share (EPS) also inclined towards positive levels as it got a massive boost of 38 per cent to 3.06 cents. Reduction in tax rates, high margin in operating profit and mark-to-market (MTM) foreign exchange gains contributed to rising EPS. The actual EPS growth (underlying growth) was 19 per cent during the said period.
Additionally, from June 2016 to June 2017, Coats Group reported strong free cash flow of US $ 109 million (up 29.7 per cent) as against US $ 84 million from June 2015 to June 2016. Higher profitability during the period under review propelled return on capital for the thread manufacturer as it increased by 400 basis points to 34 per cent as against 30 per cent in June 2016.
Coats further shares that despite an underwhelming demand from apparel retailers, the Group was able to continue its growing market. “We maintained the Group’s customer-led strategy to innovate products, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and regular enhancements in digital solutions to achieve our planned targets,” claims the company.
