25th Oct 2018 10:42
LONDON (Alliance News) - Aviation services group Air Partner PLC said on Thursday it saw a drop in profit, due to higher costs as gross transaction value also declined during the first half of its financial year.
Air Partner said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of July fell by 30% to GBP2.7 million from GBP3.8 million the year before, due to higher costs coming from the accounting review process, abortive acquisition fees and board changes.
On an underlying basis, pretax profit rose by 2.4% to GBP4.2 million from GBP4.1 million.
Revenue rose to GBP25.4 million from GBP23.1 million, however gross transaction value decreased to GBP132.8 million from GBP135.5 million.
The company said it saw a strong performance in its Commercial Jets division, despite a tough comparative period due to strong World Cup and Tour Operator flying.
Although Private Jets performed well in the US, it remained flat in the UK and Europe.
Air Partner will pay an interim dividend of 1.75 pence per share, up 2.9% from 1.70p paid the prior year.
Looking forward, Air Partner said it remains confident in its prospects for the year and beyond.
"I am pleased to report on a solid first half performance, in which we have made continued progress against our strategy. We have seen an increased contribution from our acquisitions, good trading against a tough comparable period, and strong performances from JetCard in the US and the Freight division, as well as increased activity from the FIFA World Cup and Tour Operations in Commercial Jets. This has resulted in good underlying profitability, an improvement in net cash from the year end and a healthy dividend increase," said Chief Executive Officer Mark Briffa.
Shares in Air Partner were down 2.3% at 104.09 pence on Thursday.
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