22nd May 2018 10:23
LONDON (Alliance News) - NEX Group PLC said on Tuesday that profit rose in its recently-ended financial year, though trading operating profit declined, as the FTSE 250-listed firm prepares to be taken over by US-based CME Group Inc.
The financial technology company - whose shareholders last week approved a GBP3.9 billion takeover by CME Group - said pretax profit for the year ended March 31 rose to GBP125 million from GBP122 million the year prior.
In the same period, however, trading operating profit fell to GBP147 million from GBP152 million. This figure included GBP13 million in one-off items, while the trading operating profit margin dipped to 25% from 28% last year.
Revenue for the year rose 9.2% to GBP591 million from GBP541 million, which the company attributed to new businesses and its CFETS contract. The contract made GBP20 million versus GBP13 million the year before. The company also noted that the impact of hedging for the year shrunk to nothing from a GBP17 million loss last year.
NEX cut its full year dividend to 11.15p from 38.5p.
TP ICAP, formerly Tullett Prebon, completed its acquisition of the global hybrid voice broking and information business of NEX, formerly named ICAP, at the end of 2016.
NEX is implementing a cost-saving transformation programme which saved GBP15 million during the year, and the company said it has identified a further GBP10 million in annualised cost savings for the first half of its current financial year.
"Last week our shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of the acquisition of NEX by CME Group. CME is the best buyer of NEX. Scale matters in this industry and bringing these companies together creates exciting revenue, technology and synergy opportunities," said NEX Group Chief Executive Officer Michael Spencer.
Shares in NEX were down 0.8% at 997.50p on Tuesday, trading around the level of CME's 1,000p-per-share offer price.
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