Business support services group DCC has reported very strong revenue and operating profit growth in its third quarter to the end of December and said it was improving its full year outlook.
In an interim trading statement, DCC said that the exceptionally cold weather throughout Northern Europe in the last six weeks of the quarter significantly boosted customer demand in its DCC Energy division - its largest division.
The company said that volumes rose by 22% despite the logistical challenges created by poor road conditions and supply constraints.
DCC said that trading was also strong in its SerCom division, its seasonally most important quarter. Its e-commerce, catalogue and supermarket retail channels all reported good performances on the back of a successful launch of Microsoft's Kinect console controller.
Its healthcare, health and beauty solutions and food and beverage divisions also saw good performances due to continued tight cost control. But the trading performance in its environmental division was behind as the bad weather impacted activity levels, especially in the Scottish construction sector.
The company said that trading so far this year was 'satisfactory', although relative to last year it was impacted by the milder weather conditions compared to the extremely cold January 2010.
It said it now expects an increase in operating profit for the year to March 31 2011 of about 15% and an adjusted earnings per share increase of about 10%, both on a constant currency basis. In November, it had forecast a mid-to-high single digit percentage increase in full-year operating profit.
Shares in DCC closed down 1.2% at €22.62 in Dublin.
