12th Dec 2024 12:03
(Alliance News) - RWS Holdings PLC on Thursday said it was encouraged by a strong pipeline for its AI offerings as it reported a decline in on-year revenue.
Shares in RWS were up 7.3% to 171.60 pence in London on Thursday afternoon.
The Buckinghamshire, England-based technology-enabled language services provider swung to a pretax profit in the financial year to the end of September of GBP60.0 million from a loss of GBP10.9 million the prior year.
The company said its revenue fell by 2.1% to GBP718.2 million from GBP733.8 million in the prior year.
RWS proposed a final dividend of 10.00 pence per share, up 2.0% from 9.80p last year. This took the total dividend for the year to 12.45p also 2.0% up from 12.20p.
Adjusted pretax profit was down 11% to GBP106.7 million from GBP120.1 million. The company said this was due to reduced activity in some higher margin end markets and effects from foreign exchange.
The swing to a reported profit was attributed to lower impairment and exceptional charges related to restructuring, as well as profit from the sale of its patent information resource business for GBP25 million cash in May.
Impairment on intangible assets fell by 81% to GBP11.7 million from GBP62.4 million in financial 2023.
The company said it is encouraged by a "strong pipeline for [its] AI-focused offerings", which it says are also helping internal efficiency. It said trading in the early months of financial 2025 has been in line with expectations.
It said "AI-centred products and services" account for GBP180 million of revenue and remains a "net opportunity" for the group.
RWS said it expects "modest organic constant currency growth" in the new financial year, with increased volumes offsetting price pressure.
As previously announced, Benjamin Faes will replace Ian El-Mokadem as chief executive officer from January 6.
El-Mokadem said: "Having driven significant improvements in performance in the second half, the group returned to growth on an organic constant currency basis. Client retention levels have remained high, client satisfaction has improved and we have continued to win significant new accounts.
"Whilst our market has been more challenging than anticipated when we set out our medium-term strategy in 2022, it is clear that our investments in growth and AI and the efficiency actions we have taken in line with that strategy are allowing us to pivot successfully towards both AI-led and more specialist solutions," he said.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.