Morning:
3°c
The recession's damping effect on the world's appetite for power triggered a 16% dive in pre-tax profit to £16.2 million at Chloride.
The firm, one of the biggest suppliers of uninterruptible power to industrial companies, blamed the decline on “recessionary trends”.
It said “all geographies and sectors were affected, though to varying degrees” but spotted “some sense of stabilisation in markets” in recent months.
Chief executive Tim Cobbold said Chloride had delivered “a resilient performance in a challenging economic environment”. Sales were broadly flat at £152 million.
The company edged up the dividend by 3% to 1.9p to reflect “confidence in business fundamentals”.
