This week I am looking at Hill & Smith Holdings plc; an international group that designs, manufactures and supplies road and utilities infrastructure products, and also offers galvanizing services to global markets.
The group operates across 54 sites from facilities in Australia, France, India, Sweden, Thailand, the UK and the USA. Last month the company announced its audited results for the year ended December 31 2014, which outlined good revenue generation and a positive outlook for 2015. Total revenue and operating profits increased by 2pc and 11pc respectively, reflecting its growing UK and USA operations where over 80pc of their profits are now generated. As a result of this strong performance, the company is maintaining its progressive dividend policy that has given 12 years of uninterrupted dividend growth to shareholders.
Looking forward, the UK government-sponsored Road Investment Strategy and the Grow America Act in the US offer attractive growth prospects for Hill & Smith as the resulting demand for infrastructure products gives clear visibility and greater certainty for the medium to long term. The company has seven galvanising plants in the US and plans to achieve further growth there. On the downside, European markets remain tough and the share price does not look especially cheap.
• Oliver Phillips, investment manager at NW Brown
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