5th Mar 2019 10:30
LONDON (Alliance News) - Healthcare and marketing services firm Huntsworth PLC hiked its 2018 dividend Tuesday after profit and revenue jumped amid a series of acquisitions, as it focuses on the healthcare element of its business.
In 2018, pretax profit widened 25% to GBP28.6 million from GBP22.9 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 14% to GBP225.0 million from GBP197.0 million the year before, up 1.4% on a like-for-like basis.
Headline pretax profit - excluding one-off costs primarily associated with acquisitions - widened 27% to GBP30.9 million from GBP24.4 million the year prior. Huntsworth noted this was like-for-like growth of 12% and surpassed the GBP29.4 million expected by analysts, according to company-compiled figures.
"Huntsworth has had another year of strong progress, led by stronger growth in its Healthcare divisions," Huntsworth Chief Executive Officer Paul Taaffe said.
Huntsworth proposed a 1.6 pence final dividend per share, up 10% from 1.45p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 15% to 2.3p from 2.0p the year before.
"Our strategy to position ourselves as a leading healthcare services-focused business continues to gain traction and was further enhanced this year with the acquisitions of Giant, Navience and AboveNation in our Marketing division," Taaffe added.
In July, Huntsworth acquired a 90% stake in US healthcare marketing firm Giant Creative Holdings LLC for USD72.2 million. In September it bought an 80% stake in marketing agency Navience Healthcare Solutions LLC for GBP24 million.
The 75% stake in New York-based healthcare communications firm AboveNation Media LLC was bought in February 2018 for a maximum of USD25 million.
Taaffe concluded that: "We are well positioned for additional growth in 2019 and beyond."
Shares in Huntsworth were 3.1% lower at 93.00 pence on Tuesday.
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