Mincon revenues grow in Q1

Irish engineering group Mincon said on Monday that positive revenue momentum experienced in the second half of 2021 had carried over into the first quarter of 2022.

Mincon stated it had continued to build on its order books during the first quarter, driven by "strong underlying demand" for its products across the construction, mining, and waterwell/geothermal sectors.

While Mincon acknowledged that manufacturing remained "under pressure" to supply increased demand, it also noted it had increased capacity across the group through investment in its factories and the acquisition of US-based drill pipe manufacturer Spartan Drilling Tools in January.

The AIM-listed firm also highlighted that recent challenges in the supply of raw material began to ease towards the end of the quarter, though it also noted the recovery has "some way to go" before returning to "normal".

"Whilst we have experienced margin pressure during the quarter due to the lag in recovering increases in manufacturing and operational costs through price increases to customers, we expect to recover our margin position in the coming months," said Mincon.

"Substantial increased energy costs have been a main driver behind our margin pressure and trying to mitigate the effect of these is paramount. With that in mind, we have invested in new plant, in our main hammer factory in Shannon, to reduce our energy consumption and carbon footprint once that plant is commissioned later this year."

As of 0855 BST, Mincon shares were up 2.94% at 105.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com