24th Mar 2015 10:51
LONDON (Alliance News) - NAHL Group PLC Tuesday proposed a maiden final dividend, as it posted a decline in profit for 2014 in its first full-year set of results since listing on AIM but said it had started 2015 in line with its expectations.
The National Accident Helpline owner proposed a maiden final dividend of 10.7 pence, taking its total dividend for 2014 to 15.7 pence.
The company posted a pretax profit of GBP12.1 million, down from GBP14.7 million. It posted a decline in revenue to GBP43.8 million from GBP49.1 million, as exceptional revenues did not recur, and it saw higher administrative expenses and costs related to its listing on AIM last May.
In 2013, the company generated GBP9.4 million in revenue from commissions received for an "after the event" insurance product, which did not re-occur. This product is no longer available in the same form following the implementation of Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) by the UK government.
Excluding this exceptional revenue, however, NAHL posted an increase in revenue to GBP43.8 million from GBP39.7 million.
The company attributed the underlying revenue growth to a strong performance in enquiry generation, with enquiries continuing to shift towards higher value categories such as the non-Road Traffic Accident and medical negligence sectors.
Revenue growth from the sale of products rose 2.1%, as continuing products offset the decline in products related to the pre-LASPO cases.
The company acquired Fitzalan Partners in February, and it reiterated that it expects the acquisition to immediately add to earnings. It said that following this acquisition it will continue to focus on a small number of right-sized income acquisitions to either add to its core business or extend into related areas of consumer law.
"The combination of our brand strength, marketing expertise, anticipated enquiry growth and innovative product and service development, means we are well placed to continue our growth in 2015," said Chief Executive Officer Russell Atkinson in a statement.
Shares in NAHL are trading up 1.4% at 273.83 pence Tuesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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