Business support services company DCC said that group operating profit for the third quarter ended 31 December was strongly ahead of the previous year, despite Covid-19.
In an interim management statement, DCC said that despite the disruption and uncertainty caused by the global pandemic, it had recorded strong organic operating profit growth.
The company also said it had benefitted from acquisitions completed in the prior year.
DCC operates in a range of sectors including technology and healthcare, but its gas and fuel forecourt operations are the biggest part of its business.
The company said its DCC LPG business recorded good operating profit growth in the three months to the end of December.
The business continued to experience reduced volume demand from commercial and industrial customers, due to the continuing impact of varying levels of restrictions in each market in which DCC LPG operates.
But it did see a boost from the acquisitions of NES Group in the US, and Budget Energy in Ireland, which was bought in April.
DCC said its Retail & Oil business also delivered good organic operating profit growth in the three months to December.
DCC said that although volumes in the quarter continued to be impacted by lower commercial, industrial and transport demand due to Covid-19 restrictions, the impact was less severe than that experienced earlier in the financial year.
The company said its DCC Technology division recorded strong organic operating profit growth in the third quarter of the financial year, but trading conditions in the business to business sectors, such as the Pro AV category, remained challenging due to continued restrictions.
However, working-from-home, consumer and audio products saw very strong demand across both the UK & Ireland and DCC Technology's international operations, in particular through the etail and non-traditional retail channels.
Meanwhile, the company said that DCC Healthcare reported an "excellent performance", with operating profit well ahead of the prior year.
DCC Health & Beauty Solutions continued to see very strong demand for nutritional products across all geographic markets, which drove strong organic growth.
The business also benefited from the first-time contributions of the acquisitions of Ion Labs and Amerilab Technologies in the US, which have continued to perform well.
DCC Vital also generated very good organic profit growth. While elective medical procedures and consultations continue to be impacted by the pandemic, the business has continued to successfully respond to the changing product and service needs of the healthcare systems of Ireland and the UK, the company added.
Looking ahead, DCC said the outlook for all economies in which it operates remains very uncertain, with restrictions generally now increasing again.
But it said its diverse and resilient business model and the essential nature of its products and services has seen it respond well to the challenges of the pandemic and trade robustly.
"Assuming normal weather conditions for the balance of the financial year, DCC expects that the year ending 31 March 2021 will be another year of development and good growth in operating profit, ahead of current market consensus expectations," the company added.
