PZ Cussons lathers up 16% profit rise

28th Jul 2009 07:27

Imperial Leather soap maker PZ Cussons whisked up a better than expected 16% rise in annual pre-tax profit and looks ahead with cautious optimism. Pre-tax profit rose to £88.8m for the year ended 31 May 2009 from £76.5m the previous year after a good performance across the group. Analysts had pencilled in pre-tax profit of around £87m. Revenue increased 27% to £838.1m.Commenting in today's update, chairman Anthony Green said, "2009 has been another successful year for PZ Cussons with strong performance in all territories despite the challenging economic environment.""Overall performance since the year end has been in line with management expectations. We face the year with cautious optimism and well placed to pursue further investment opportunities," he added.The board is recommending a final dividend of 4.085p per share, up from 3.625p in 2008.