3rd Dec 2019 09:22
(Alliance News) - Marlowe PLC said Tuesday its profit fell in the first half of its financial year on higher costs, despite growth in revenue.
Also Tuesday, the London-based support services firm announced the acquisition of Law At Work Holdings Ltd for up to GBP10.3 million in total.
Shares in Marlowe were up 5.4% at 466.80 pence on Tuesday.
Law At Work is a Glasgow-based national provider of subscription-based employment law compliance, as well as health & safety services.
Marlowe will initially pay GBP6.3 million in cash, and a contingent consideration of up to GBP4.0 million over three years, depending on the achievement of profit targets.
For the year to the end of May, Law At Work reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of GBP1.2 million, on revenue of GBP5.4 million.
For Marlowe, the acquisition will help it build end-to-end provision of compliance services, and complement its existing Health, Safety and Compliance businesses.
For the six months to the end of September, Marlowe reported pretax profit of GBP300,000, down from GBP700,000 the year before.
These figures include acquisition costs which doubled year-on-year to GBP600,000, restructuring costs which rose to GBP3.2 million, and GBP1.5 million in cost from the amortisation of intangible assets.
On an adjusted basis, however, pretax profit rose by 58% to GBP6.2 million from GBP3.9 million.
Revenue for the period grew by 58% to GBP89.3 million, including a 6.5% rise in organic revenue, driven by Marlowe's increasing compliance capabilities and cross-selling between divisions.
Looking ahead, Marlowe said the second half of its financial year has started well, and is confident of delivering an annual performance ahead of market expectations.
"We are pleased to have delivered a strong performance in the first half, during which Marlowe continued to extend its position as the UK's leading provider of technology-enabled services which assure the regulatory compliance and safety of UK businesses. All our activities showed strong year-on-year growth and contributed to an acceleration in group organic revenue growth which is now 6.5%," said Chief Executive Alex Dacre.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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