4th Apr 2016 07:46
LONDON (Alliance News) - Christie Group PLC on Monday said its pretax profit fell in 2015 due to a weak year for the UK retail stocktaking business.
The stock and inventory systems and services provider said its pretax profit for the year to the end of December fell to GBP3.2 million from GBP3.4 million a year earlier, despite revenue growing to GBP63.7 million from GBP61.0 million.
Revenue from Christie's business services unit grew thanks to good activity across a range of customer sectors, which also helped operating profit higher in the business, but Christie's stocktaking and inventory systems unit struggled amid difficult market conditions.
Christie said its stocktaking business for the hospitality industry, Venners, held up well, but its retail stocktaking arm was hit by lower customer activity amid price deflation in the retail sector.
Christie said it will pay a flat 1.5 pence per share final dividend, meaning its total dividend rises to 2.5p from 2.25p.
"During 2015 we expanded our team, our network & our range of services and grew our client base. We have developed our systems for implementation in 2016 and are soundly based for the future," said Chief Executive David Rugg.
Christie said 2016 had started slowly but has started to improve, with its deal pipeline continuing to grow.
Christie shares were up 0.4% to 129.00p.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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