9th Aug 2018 10:24
LONDON (Alliance News) - Transport firm Rotala PLC boosted its interim dividend Thursday after profit and revenue jumped in "very encouraging" trading.
For the six months ended May, pretax profit jumped 72% to GBP1.6 million from GBP932,000 the year prior. This was after revenue rose 14% to GBP32.7 million from GBP28.6 million the year before.
Profit performance was helped by a sharp reversal in exceptional items during the period. One-off items added GBP36,000 to profit in the most recent half, compared to being a GBP408,000 drag the year prior.
On an underlying basis - excluding exceptional items - pretax profit rose 17% to GBP1.6 million from GBP1.3 million the year prior.
"The progress achieved by the group during the first half of the year has been very encouraging", Rotala Chairman John Gunn said. "Bearing in mind that the group's profitability has an increased bias to the second half of the year as a consequence of the Hotel Hoppa acquisition, the results we have achieved in the first half of the year make the board confident that we remain well on course to meet market expectations for the financial year as a whole."
Rotala proposed a 0.92 pence per share interim dividend, up 8.2% from 0.85p the year prior.
"Rotala has a proven track record of steady organic growth supplemented by sensibly priced acquisitions", Gunn added. "The recent acquisition of Central Buses conforms to this strategy. We continue to be actively engaged in hunting out potential acquisitions and, with the backing of our new bankers, possess considerable firepower which can be used to attain these targets."
In February, Rotala acquired West Midlands-based CEN Group Ltd - trading as Central Buses - for GBP2.0 million in cash.
"In our assessment there will continue to be much divestment and acquisition activity in the bus market in the next few years," Gunn continued. "We undoubtedly have the management skills and the resources to capitalise on these opportunities. This makes us confident about the prospects of the group in 2018 and beyond."
Shares in Rotala were 1.3% higher at 53.70 pence on Thursday.
Related Shares:
ROL.L