Strong euro to blame for flat Unidare performance

DISTRIBUTION and manufacturing group Unidare reported a flat performance for the first half of the year yesterday, as operating profits edged up from €4 million to €4.3 million.

The group suffered the effects of a stronger euro as revenues fell from €105m to €99m, but sales were ahead by €8m when currency effects were stripped out.

But the group reported a strong improvement at the bottom line. Pre-tax profits doubled to €3.2m as the group benefited from lower debt servicing costs and the non-recurrence of a €780,000 loss on the sale of a subsidiary that affected last year’s figures. Net debt fell from €22.3m to €21m over the six-month period. Interest and financing costs tumbled from over €1m to €480,000.