8th Dec 2020 10:35
(Alliance News) - GB Group PLC on Tuesday reported a sharp rise in first half profit and has resumed dividend payments.
In the six months to September 30, the identity management, location intelligence and fraud prevention company's pretax profit jumped to GBP14.9 million from GBP8.5 million the year before.
Revenue improved 9.8% year on year to GBP103.5 million from GBP94.3 million.
"We have delivered good results driven by accelerated growth from some of our existing customers as they extend their use of digital services and encouragingly, customer contract renewal rates continue to be in line with prior years. Although we saw the rate of new contracts slowdown in some geographies and sectors, we successfully won new business against our competitors throughout the first half," Chief Executive Chris Clark said.
He continued: "Clearly the broader implications of Covid-19 mean that uncertainty continues to be a dominant trend for all businesses around the world. However, GB is well positioned as digital acceleration is now even more a necessity for all companies. For the consumer facing businesses we serve, key to their success will be making sure they know who and where their customers are. We will continue to invest organically and through acquisition for additional capabilities to meet these needs and drive long-term growth for GBG."
GB declared an interim dividend of 3.0 pence each. The firm noted it typically pays a final dividend, but suspended its final payout for financial 2020 due to the uncertainty caused by Covid-19.
Restarting dividends, GB said, is a result of the "prudent steps taken at the start of the pandemic to preserve liquidity", combined with the company's strong first-half performance and confidence in the outlook for the business.
"This interim dividend in effect reinstates our progressive dividend policy and whilst we are hopeful that continued progress this year and beyond will enable GB to maintain future dividends, such decisions, as always, will remain subject to group performance, cashflow and the economic environment," the company added.
Shares in GB Group were down 0.9% in London on Tuesday morning at 891.59 pence each.
By Paul McGowan; [email protected]
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