13th Sep 2018 08:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - Ricardo PLC on Thursday reported a drop in annual profit, but a rise on an adjusted basis, and said that it enters the new 2019 financial year with a confident and positive outlook.
The engineering consultancy also raised its final dividend for 2018 financial year to 14.71 pence per share from 13.88p paid a year ago, giving a total payout for the period of 20.46p versus 19.3p.
For the year to June 30, Ricardo recorded pretax profit of GBP28.5 million, down 11% from GBP32.2 million in the year ago period, on a revenue of GBP380.0 million and GBP352.1 million, respectively.
Reported pretax profit before year decreased primarily as a result of GBP4.8 million of reorganisation costs due to restructuring of the Automotive businesses in the US and Germany.
Profit, excluding exceptional items, increased 2% year-on-year to GBP39.0 million from GBP38.3 million.
Annual order order intake was up GBP47 million at GBP413 million and order book at year end stood at GBP288 million versus GBP248 million.
"Our global presence and strategy of sector diversification helped the business to mitigate the continued impact of uncertainty in the UK market. Our growing order intake, particularly in Asia, reflects our clients' continued demand for our high-quality products and services," said Chief Executive Dave Shemmans.
"We enter the new financial year with a more agile business and a confident and positive outlook. Ricardo's global capabilities and presence in a number of growing markets, together with its strong order book, all provide a solid foundation for continued growth," he added.
Shares in Ricardo were trading 2.4% lower at 812.00 pence each on Thursday morning.
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