(Alliance News) - Macfarlane Group PLC on Thursday said profit grew in the first half of the year amid lower costs, while recent acquisitions contributed to a revenue increase.

The Glasgow-based supplier of protective packaging materials said pretax profit jumped by 12% to GBP10.0 million in the six months that ended June 30 from GBP8.9 million a year before. This came as cost of sales fell by 2.0% to GBP90.3 million.

Revenue rose by 2% to GBP141.6 million from GBP139.2 million a year prior, despite "lower demand" from customers in the UK and Ireland.

This was partly attributed to a GBP6.3 million contribution from its acquisition of A&G Holdings Ltd in April and Packmann Gesellschaft fur Verpackungen und Dienstleistungen mbH in May last year.

Macfarlane raised its interim dividend by 4.4% to 0.94 pence from 0.90p the year before.

Looking ahead, the company said its full-year profit expectations remain unchanged.

By Sabrina Penty, Alliance News reporter

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