Building and engineering products company Alumasc Group PLC (ALU.LN) Thursday reported an 82% decline in fiscal year pretax profit, as lower construction activity and weak automotive markets hit demand for its specialist products.

Alumasc said it expects trading this fiscal year at its core building products division, which makes solar shades, drainage products and environmentally-friendly roofing, to be worse than fiscal 2009 because fewer big office blocks and other commercial buildings will get built.

It expects a better year at its precision engineering unit, however, where cost cutting, new management and some valuable contract wins with the likes of Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and Aston Martin, the luxury car maker, should help earnings recover, Chief Executive Paul Hooper told Dow Jones Newswires.

Hooper added Alumasc is making a push into the U.S. and the Middle East, where it believes it can find major new markets for its energy-saving solar shades for glass office buildings. It provided shades for Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's (RBS.LN) new U.S. headquarters in Connecticut, he said.

Longer term, Alumasc expects environmentally-sustainable products and energy-saving building materials will become more common on many new buildings. It kept its dividend steady at 10 pence a share.

Alumasc said pretax profit for the year to June 30 declined to GBP1.8 million from GBP10 million a year earlier, while revenue fell 13% to GBP109 million.

Lower sales, amortization of its brands and restructuring costs weighed on earnings.

At 0825 GMT, shares in Alumasc were down 6 pence, or 5.2%, at 108.5 pence, underperforming a 0.4% higher FTSE Fledgling index.

Company Web site: www.alumasc.co.uk

-By Jason Douglas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9272; jason.douglas@dowjones.com

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