By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--Ansell raised its dividend and maintained its annual earnings guidance after tariff-driven price increases and productivity improvements helped the personal-protective equipment maker lift its first-half profit by almost 62%.

The Australia-listed company, which reports in U.S. dollars, on Monday reported a net profit for the six months through December of $88.8 million, up from $55.0 million a year earlier.

Stripping out one-off items, net profit rose by 18% to $95.7 million.

Revenue rose by 0.7% to $1.03 billion as Ansell, which manufactures the majority of its products in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and China, raised U.S. prices to offset the impact of the Trump administration's tariffs.

While group sales fell by 0.6% on a constant-currency basis, adjusted earnings per share rose by 19% to 66.3 U.S. cents.

The rise came as Ansell achieved its full-year target for $50 million in annualized cost savings under the productivity program it launched in 2023. It also generated higher synergies from the $640 million acquisition of Kimberly-Clark's PPE business in 2024.

Ansell's earnings margin expanded to 14.3% from 12.5% a year earlier, assisted by lower freight costs.

The average analyst forecast had been for a net profit of $87.6 million from revenue of $1.08 billion, according to data compiled by Visible Alpha. Analysts had been looking for adjusted EPS of about 61.2 cents.

Ansell said it still expects adjusted earnings per share for the 12 months through June of between $1.37 and $1.49, in line with October's improved guidance. It had previously flagged adjusted EPS of between $1.33 and $1.45.

The board declared a dividend of 26.6 cents, up from 22.2 cents and compared with consensus of 27 cents. It was Ansell's highest half-year payout since its 2020 fiscal year.

Chief Executive Neil Salmon ended his tenure by overseeing Ansell's largest first-half profit since its 2021 fiscal year, when the Covid-19 pandemic drove an unprecedented surge in demand for single-use gloves.

"We delivered a strong set of first half results in what were subdued market conditions," said Salmon, who will retire Monday after four and a half years as CEO.

"While we do not anticipate any meaningful improvement in market conditions, we continue to see growth opportunities in verticals and geographies favored by increased public and private investment."

Last month, Ansell announced that Nathalie Ahlstrom, the former boss of Finnish consumer-goods supplier Fiskars, as its new CEO. Salmon will act as special advisor through June 30.

Ansell said it bought $47.2 million of shares in the period under its previously announced $200 million on-market buyback program. The program will continue in the June half, it said.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 15, 2026 16:14 ET (21:14 GMT)

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