11th Sep 2014 09:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - Engineering and environmental consultancy Ricardo PLC Thursday reported a higher pretax profit for its last financial year and said it ended the year with a record order book, helped by improved trading in the US and Germany and a recent acquisition.
The company, which provides technical consulting and performance products to car makers and the wider transport sector, governments, the defence sector and environmental agencies, reported a pretax profit of GBP23.5 million for the 12 months to end-June, up from GBP20.7 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP236.2 million, from GBP229.7 million.
The increase was helped by the full inclusion of the Ricardo-AEA business it acquired in November 2012. Excluding the AEA business for the period between July 1 and November 8, 2013, pretax profit rose 3% to GBP23.3 million, from GBP22.7 million. However, revenue was down 2% due to delays in receiving some orders in its technical consulting business, which then materialised in the final quarter of the year.
Ricardo said its order book at the end of the year stood at GBP142 million, up 17% from GBP121 million a year earlier, as its order intake rose 19% to GBP259 million, from GBP218 million.
"We have ended the year with a strong order intake in the final quarter, leading to a record order book as we enter the new financial year. Market conditions remain positive in the UK and Asia, are improving in the US, and in Germany we enter the new financial year with an order book significantly up on previous years. The strong order book and pipeline across the Group, together with the large long-term assembly contracts secured in the year, provide confidence in the further development of the business," Chief Executive Dave Shemmans said in a statement.
The company signed a new multi-year engine supply agreement with McLaren Automotive last December. It expects the deal to earn revenue of about GBP40 million a year from its 2016/17 financial year onwards, making it its largest deal ever.
The company raised its full year dividend to 15.2 pence, from 14.0p a year earlier. It generated net cash of GBP6.5 million in the year, meaning it ended the year with net funds of GBP12.6 million, more than double the GBP6.1 million of a year earlier.
It said that it is actively looking for opportunities to expand and enhance the business, without going into details.
Ricardo shares were up 3% at 634.90 pence Thursday morning
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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