31st Mar 2014 08:40
LONDON (Alliance News) - Quindell PLC Monday announced a maiden dividend and raised its longer-term adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin guidance, as it posted a large jump in pretax profit in 2013.
The software, consultancy and technology-enabled outsourcing company proposed a maiden dividend of 0.1 pence, and said it was adopting a progressive dividend policy.
Quindell posted a pretax profit of GBP107.0 million in 2013, up from GBP35.4 million in 2012, as revenues rose to GBP380.1 million from GBP163.0 million, boosted by particularly strong growth in its Services Division.
Services revenues more than doubled to GBP299.7 million from GBP132.9 million, driven by regulatory changes in the UK insurance market in 2013, Quindell said. Margins in the Services division improved to 30% from 24% in the previous year as increased volumes were handled by its legal services and health operations, which have its strongest margins.
In its Solutions division, revenue rose to GBP80.4 million from GBP30.1 million, although margins declined to 64% from 80%.
Quindell said Monday it is looking to move to a full listing on the London Stock Exchange from its current membership of AIM, and also is considering a potential North American listing following its results. Quindell said it expects to submit its application to the UK listing authorities by the middle of April, with a change in listing targeted for early June.
It said that, given its market capitalisation, it would expect to join either the FTSE 250 or even the FTSE100. Quindell has a market cap of GBP2.4 billion, according to data provided by Morningstar, making it the second biggest stock on AIM after retailer ASOS PLC. Betting firm William Hill PLC is currently the smallest stock in the FTSE 100, with a market cap of GBP2.97 billion
The company said that its trading so far in 2014 has been ahead of plan for all of its key performance indicators, which makes it confident for growth in 2014 and beyond exceeding market expectations. It said that current market expectations for its technology revenues are likely to be exceeded in 2014, as the company's telematics subscriber base grows with client implementations.
Quindell raised its longer-term adjusted EBITDA margin guidance to 30% plus from its current guidance of 25% plus.
Shares in Quindell were trading down 7.2% at 35.95 pence Monday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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