T Clarke to pay out interim dividend as firm says trading bounces back

Listed M&E contractor T Clarke has said it will pay a dividend next month as the firm issued an upbeat trading statement to the City this morning.

The firm, which fell into the red for the six months to June, said it would be handing shareholders a payment of 0.75p per share on 13 November.

T Clarke said it was on course for margins of 3% in the second half of the year after the impact of covid-19 sent it to a pre-tax loss of £1.5m from a £4.5m pre-tax profit last time on revenue down 38% to £106m.

But it said trading has improved considerably from the second quarter, when turnover collapsed by half from the previous three months, and said it was expecting revenue for the year of around £240m and underlying profit of approximately £6m – although this is considerably down on the £335m turnover it posted last year where underlying profit stood at £9.2m.

It said all its sites were now open and added its forward order was a near record £410m.

It added: “Throughout the year there continues to be high levels of bidding opportunities. Assuming there are no further significant business interruptions arising from any widespread secondary lockdown the Board is cautiously optimistic for the medium-term outlook.”

The covid crisis meant the firm spent £3.6m completing a restructuring which has seen 80 jobs go at the business, around 6% of its 1,400-strong workforce.