Business support services company DCC has said that trading for its first fiscal quarter was resilient and ahead of the group's expectations.
But trading was behind the same time last year due to the severe Covid-19 lockdown restrictions in place during April and May, the company added.
In a trading update issued ahead of its AGM in Dublin today, DCC said that all of its business units operated effectively during the quarter despite Covid-19.
The company said that operating profit in DCC LPG was behind last year due to weakness in commercial and industrial volumes, particularly in Britain and Ireland.
But despite a relatively warmer start to the year, the increase in time spent at home by consumers meant domestic and retail cylinder demand was strong during the quarter across most of its markets.
DCC Retail & Oil performed well in the quarter, driven by good performances from both its UK and Danish businesses.
It said the good performances reflected strong demand from agricultural customers and very strong demand in the domestic sector, where customers sought to secure supply during the uncertain lockdown period.
Meanwhile, operating profit in DCC Technology was behind last year, although trading improved steadily through the quarter.
DCC noted that the business benefited from good underlying demand for consumer technology products in the e-tail and non-traditional retail channels. But business to business demand was impacted more significantly.
And DCC Healthcare performed strongly during the quarter, with operating profit well ahead of last year.
The company said that DCC Health & Beauty Solutions saw strong demand for nutritional products and benefited from the first-time contribution from acquisitions in the US of Ion Labs and Amerilab.
DCC Vital experienced very strong demand for Covid-19 related products, which offset the impact of substantially lower routine hospital procedures and in-person consultations, it added.
Donal Murphy, DCC's chief executive, said the global measures taken to mitigate the impact of the pandemic continue to have a significant impact on the company's employees, customers and business operations.
"Although a seasonally quieter period for the group, I have been pleased with the performance of each of DCC's divisions during the quarter. The trading performance of the group has been very resilient, considering the significant challenges presented by the necessary restrictions," Mr Murphy said.
He said the improving performance through the quarter has meant the company has restarted selective organic development capital expenditure to ensure it is in a position to capture any opportunity for market share gains during this period.
"DCC's diverse, resilient business model and financial strength ensures the group is in a very strong position to navigate through the ongoing uncertainty," he added.
