11th Jun 2019 09:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - RWS Holdings PLC on Tuesday reported double-digit earnings growth in the first half of its current financial year, helped by the acquisition of Moravia.
The language support services provider said pretax profit grew by 51% to GBP27.6 million in the six months to the end of March as revenue jumped by 23% to GBP172.3 million.
In particular, the company noted RWS Moravia delivered a "significantly" improved performance both in revenue and profitability, and RWS IP Services achieved "substantial" top-line growth, whilst investing in additional staff and production processes.
Moravia was acquired in November 2017 and therefore the first half results in 2018 included only five months of trading.
RWS Moravia' revenue was up 36% in the first half to GBP71.1 million. This "good" growth was achieved despite the continuing reduction in volumes with one of the division's top five clients, RWS explained. Excluding this client, sales across Moravia's top five clients increased by 10%.
The RWS IP Services division, formerly RWS Patent Translation & Filing and RWS Patent Information, achieved revenue growth of 15% to GBP62.3 million, bolstered by increased sales to several of its major clients.
The RWS Life Sciences unit reported revenue growth of 21% to GBP31.8 million for the period, benefiting from the additional clients transferred from Moravia.
In the RWS Language Solutions segment, revenue in the first half improved by 1% to GBP7.1 million, thanks to additional sales generated by recently acquired Alpha Translations Canada Inc.
The company said its Language Solutions unit saw reduced sales to several key clients due to challenging market conditions, notably in the German automotive and renewable energy sectors.
RWS declared an interim payout of 1.75 pence a share, up 17% from 1.5p paid the year before.
"Following a strong first half and encouraging performances at the start of H2, we are confident of achieving another record year," said Chair Andrew Brode.
RWS shares were trading 2.0% lower on Monday morning at 593.00 pence each.
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