28th May 2014 08:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - Iomart Group PLC Wednesday raised its total dividend after its pretax profit rose in the year to end-March, driven by a series of acquisitions during the year and the buoyant cloud computing market.
The cloud computing company posted a dividend of 1.75 pence per share, up from 1.40 pence in the previous year.
Its pretax profit rose to GBP9.7 million, from GBP8.7 million, as revenue rose to GBP55.6 million, from GBP43.1 million, buoyed by acquisitions which also helped to improve its gross margin to 68.0% from 67.2%. However, higher administrative and sales costs capped the profit increase.
During September, Iomart acquired Redstation Ltd, Backup Technology Holdings Ltd and Open Minded Solutions Ltd, which it said had now been integrated. It is continuing to look for businesses that fit its acquisition criteria and hopes to make further acquisitions during the current financial year.
The company has made eleven acquisition over the last five years, and now has data centres in eight locations throughout the UK.
During the year the company invested in its data centre in Maidenhead, increasing its overall capacity to 600 racks.
"We continue to be well placed to deliver an ever wider range of cloud services to our increasing customer base," said Chief Executive Angus MacSween in a statement. "With our growing reputation and ongoing investment in leading edge technologies, alongside our own development skills, we are well positioned for further significant growth."
The company said that it looks to the year ahead with confidence, as trading since the year end had remained in line with expectations.
Shares in Iomart were trading up 2.1% at 248.00 pence Wednesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Iomart