Business support services group DCC has reported adjusted operating profit on continuing activities for the six months to September of £141.9m, an increase of 16% on the same time last year.
Revenues for the six months rose by 24.7% to £7.418 billion from £5.947 billion, while the company's pre-tax profits grew by 17.2% to £85.9m from £73.3m.
The DCC board has decided to pay an interim dividend of just below 45 pence per share - an increase of 10% on the same time last year.
The company said it continues to be active from a development perspective and committed about £270m to new acquisitions since the preliminary results in May 2018.
"The recently completed acquisitions of Stampede and Jam further demonstrate DCC's increased opportunity set for development resulting from the group's increased geographic presence," DCC's chief executive Donal Murphy said.
"The group's significant development in recent years has resulted in DCC having the platforms, opportunities and capability to build the Group into a global leader in its chosen sectors," the CEO said.
"The group reiterates its belief that the year ending 31 March 2019 will be another year of profit growth and development," Mr Murphy added.
Breaking down its divisions, the company said that operating profits at its DCC LPG unit fell by 7.2% to £40.9m due to the increase in the cost of product and DCC's investment in its natural gas and power offering in France.
DCC LPG sold 741,600 tonnes of product, an increase of 14.9% over the previous year on the back of the acquisitions of Shell Hong Kong & Macau, Retail West and TEGA.
DCC noted that the business in Ireland and the UK delivered good volume growth compared to the same time last year, despite the warmer than average weather.
Operating profits at the company's Retail and Oil division jumped by 33.5% to £56.3m, while its volumes increased by 2.4% to 6.2 billion litres.
The company said the business performed very well in the UK and Ireland and saw strong organic profit growth as lower agriculture volume demand was offset by good growth in commercial volumes.
Half yearly revenues at DCC Healthcare rose by 12.6% to £275.9m while operating profits increased by 22.2% to £26.9m - in line with expectations.
It said that both DCC Vital and DCC Health & Beauty Solutions generated strong organic profit growth, with the division also boosted by the purchase of Elite One Source in February.
Operating profits at the company's Technology unit jumped by 25% to £17.8m while revenues for the six months were up 15.8% to £1.5888 billion with the improvements driven by a strong organic performance in Ireland and the UK, as well as the contributions completed in the current year.
The company said the purchases of Stampede in July and Jam in September marked DCC Technology's first acquisitions in the large, growing and fragmented North American market and DCC said that both businesses have traded in line with expectations.
