MACFARLANE Group has recorded a ‘resilient’ financial performance in the first half of 2020 despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Glasgow-headquarted business revealed in its interim results that turnover for the first six months of the year was £105,572 million, down just 1.8% when compared with the same period a year ago.
Pre-tax profit is down 5.5% at £3,622 million.
Chairman Stuart Paterson said, “Macfarlane Group has achieved a resilient performance in the first half of 2020 despite the challenging market conditions due to the impact of Covid-19. The board recognises this achievement is a testament to the exceptional contribution of our employees and wishes to take this opportunity to publicly thank the whole Macfarlane team for their hard work and commitment.
“All our sites have remained open and trading throughout, albeit adjusted to service reduced demand, with social distancing and hygiene measures in place to protect the health, safety and well-being of our staff and our customers. In addition, the majority of our office-based staff have been working successfully from home in accordance with our home working protocols.”
Macfarlane added that group interest costs have decreased by £400,000 due to lower levels of bank debt and finance leases and a lower pension deficit in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
Net bank debt at 30 June 2020 was £800,000, £11.9 million below its 31 December 2019 level of £12.7 million.
This, the firm explained, has been achieved through ‘active management of working capital and reductions in the cost base’. The net debt has benefited by £5.4 million from the various government support and deferral programmes, all of which Macfarlane has repaid since the end of June.
