Vantis, the AIM listed accountancy and professional services group, is pleased to announce its unaudited preliminary results for the financial year ended 30 April 2008.
Key Points
- Revenue up 7.5% to £94.3 million (2007: £87.7 million);
- Profit on continuing operations before amortisation and exceptional costs, interest and tax, up 8.0% to £14.9 million (2007: £13.8 million);
- Profit after tax on continuing operations is £7.1million (2007:£7.7m);
- Adjusted basic earnings per share on continuing operations excluding amortisation, exceptional costs and discontinued operations is 17.12 pence (2007: 20.18 pence), reflecting the placing in February 2007;
- Basic earnings per share after allowing for amortisation, discontinued operations and exceptional items is 11.54 pence (2007: 15.28 pence);
- Cash generation from continuing operations before exceptional items of £10.4 million (2007: £1.7 million);
- Interest cover from continuing activities before amortisation and exceptional items approximately 4.1 times, and approximately 3.6 times after allowing for amortisation and exceptional items;
- Final dividend proposed of 1.5 pence per share, making a total for the year of 3.0 pence per share (2007: 5.3 pence). Yield up to 3.3% from 2.3%.
- Group strengthened by a mix of acquisitions and the recruitment of additional high calibre staff, with strong staff retention in all areas of the business;
- The Group’s strategy for profitable growth continues with the careful integration of businesses and teams into a strong common culture and infrastructure;
- The Vantis brand continues to gain market prominence providing a pipeline of opportunities for acquiring excellent businesses and talented people.
Chairman, Paul Gourmand, said:
I am pleased to report that the Group has continued to perform in line with our expectations since 1 May 2008. Our market profile continues to provide acquisition opportunities against which we apply strict selection criteria. We are well positioned for the future as our business advisory, tax and business recovery divisions provide a mix of higher margin activities with defensive qualities in these more challenging market conditions.
For further information, please contact:
Vantis plc
+44 (0)20 7417 0417
Paul Jackson, Chief Executive
Paul Ashton, Director
Buchanan Communications
+44 (0)20 7466 5000
Suzanne Brocks, James Strong
Landsbanki Securities (UK) Limited
+44 (0)20 7426 9000
Jeff Keating, Fred Walsh, Sebastian Jones
Please click here to view a full copy of the Preliminary Results for the Year Ended 30 April 2008