June 24 (Reuters) – British chemicals maker Yule Catto & Co Plc (YULC.L) said it expected first-half underlying pretax profit to be substantially ahead of a year ago, helped by its main polymer business, sending its shares up nearly 6 percent.
The company, which sees first-half operating profit in the polymers division well above year-ago levels, said the business enjoyed good volumes through the second quarter.
Yule Catto said its impact chemicals business William Blythe also saw better volumes and was trading strongly.
While the company’s pharma chemicals was expected to report a lower operating profit for the period, Yule Catto said the unit currently had a strong order book and was likely to see an improved product mix in the second half of the year.
The company also expects to lower net debt from 88 million pounds ($131.7 million) following the 11 million pounds sale of its downstream adhesives business in June.
Shares of the company were up 5.9 percent at 188 pence at 0708 GMT on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1=.6683 Pound) (Reporting by Aditi Samajpati in Bangalore; Editing by Aradhana Aravindan)
