Business support services company DCC has reported higher revenues and profits for the six months to the end of September and said it was continuing to perform well in what it called a volatile and challenging environment.
The Dublin-headquartered conglomerate said its half yearly revenues rose by 44% to £10.837 billion from £7.518 billion the same time last year.
Its adjusted operating profit was up 13% to £221.2m from £195.8m, which it said was driven by strong organic growth in DCC Energy and the previous year's acquisition of Almo in DCC Technology.
DCC, which operates in 23 countries and has over 16,000 employees, said its interim dividend increased by 7.5% to 60.04 pence per share.
Breaking down its divisions, the company said its DCC Energy business reported adjusted operating profits of £132.5m, up 11.9% on the same time last year.
Its DCC Technology unit reported a big 67.4% jump in adjusted operating profits to £45.5m from £27.2m.
But its DCC Healthcare division reported a 13.9% drop in operating profits to £43.2m from £50.2m.
DCC said it expects that the year ending March 2023 will be another year of profit growth and development, despite the "challenging" macro environment at present.
Donal Murphy, DCC's chief executive, said the company reported strong growth in the seasonally less significant first half of its financial year.
"The group continued to perform well in a volatile and challenging environment, reflecting our resilient business model and strong market positions," Mr Murphy said.
He said the company committed about £300m to acquisitions in the healthcare and energy services and renewables sectors in the six month period. The company has completed over 350 acquisitions since its IPO in 1994.
"The acquisitions in the period are consistent with our aim to build a material position in the European healthcare sector and ensuring we are leading the decarbonisation of our energy customers," the CEO said.
"Our priorities are consistent with the growth opportunities we see in our chosen sectors of Energy, Healthcare and Technology and we continue to see substantial opportunity in these sectors," he added.
