21st Mar 2016 12:08
LONDON (Alliance News) - Management Consulting Group PLC on Monday said it swung to loss in 2015 after revenue from its Alexander Proudfoot business was "significantly weaker" and the proportion of business coming from continental Europe dropped on the sale of part of its Kurt Salmon business.
The company posted a GBP3.7 million pretax loss for the year ended December 31, from a profit of GBP2.8 million in 2014, as its revenue fell to GBP138.9 million from GBP145.9 million.
Management Consulting said it had seen a weak second half performance of its consulting company Alexander Proudfoot, due to lower levels of activity in the key natural resources sector. Revenue from Alexander Proudfoot dropped to GBP50.2 million from GBP60.9 million in 2014, which offset a slight rise in revenue from its Kurt Salmon business.
Management Consulting also reported a GBP1.7 million loss from discontinued operations from a profit of GBP3.8 million the previous year, after it sold its French and related operations of Kurt Salmon to Solucom in November, and cleared its bank debt in January once the acquisition completed.
Management Consulting said it will not be paying a dividend for the year, after previously announcing no interim dividend would be paid in January, and said "it remains likely that it will seek to implement a reconstruction of reserves before dividend payments are resumed".
However, the company said its operations are now more weighted towards North America in 2016, where "economic indicators have remained relatively strong so far".
It said its Alexander Proudfoot business may be adversely affected in the natural resource sector and in emerging markets, but said "in the medium term the changes made to the business will in time build a firm platform for growth and profitability", whilst the Kurt Salmon business has had a good start to the year.
"Although demand remains weak in this sector, Alexander Proudfoot has had an encouraging start to 2016, but the outlook for the rest of the year is uncertain at this stage. Kurt Salmon is now primarily focused on the global retail and consumer goods practice which delivered a satisfactory performance in 2015 and which continues to benefit from positive market trends," said Chief Executive Nick Stagg.
Shares in Management Consulting were flat at 15.00 pence on Monday.
By Hannah Boland; [email protected]; @Hannaheboland
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