Samuel Heath & Sons scraps dividend, warns of 'significant' loss amid Covid-19 impact

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Samuel Heath & Sons scrapped its dividend and warned of a 'significant loss' as output fell sharply in June owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Output to the end of June was 37.6% down on the same period last year. 'Clearly there will be a significant loss on this figure,' the company said.

'The result of this sharp downturn in activity will unsurprisingly have a devastating effect on our profitability in the current year,' the company warned.

The warning came as the company reported higher profit for the fiscal year ended March.

Pre-tax profit rose to £1.368m from £882K on-year as revenue was roughly flat at £13.887m.

The company said it was not the correct time to pay a final dividend, even though its balance sheet was strong.

At 8:56am: (LON:HSM) Heath Samuel Sons PLC share price was -15p at 200p