Vesuvius PLC on Wednesday said its sales performance was ‘stronger than expected’ in the first four months of this year, offsetting all cost inflation to date.

The London-based molten metal flow engineering, ahead of Wednesday’s annual general meeting, said trading profit increased by more than 60% on a constant currency basis in the period. Its return-on-sales also improved.

Looking ahead, the company said: ‘The global macro-economic outlook has weakened since the start of the year due to geo-political uncertainty, Covid-related restrictions in China and the prospect of increasing interest rates to combat inflation.’

It noted that the World Steel Association has cut its forecast for steel production growth, excluding China, to 0.7% from 4.7% due to Covid-related restrictions and the global macro-economic outlook.

Nonetheless, Vesuvius’s full-year outlook remains unchanged.

Its £28 million investments in flow control, focused on expanding capacity to support growth and market share gains, are on-track and expected to be operational from late 2022.

Vesuvius shares were up 3.8% at 343.40 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.

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