16th Mar 2015 07:59
LONDON (Alliance News) - Smart Metering Systems PLC Monday reported strong growth in profit and revenue in 2014, as its expansion in the electricity metering market paid off.
The company reported a pretax profit of GBP11.0 million for 2014, up from GBP7.5 million in 2013, as revenue grew by more than half to GBP42.4 million, from GBP27.9 million. It will pay a final dividend of 1.88 pence a share, bringing the total for the year to 2.82p, up from 2.31p for 2013.
A large chunk of the increase came from Utility Partnership Ltd, which it bought last April. Electricity meter numbers more than doubled to 12,000 by the end of 2014, from 5,000 a year earlier as a result. However, revenue was still up 25% excluding Utility Partnership, with its gas meter portfolio increasing by 29% to 607,000.
"Everything we had envisaged for the UPL acquisition has come to fruition in less than a year. We have successfully integrated UPL into SMS, increased our recurring income streams and we have already expanded customer relationships to benefit from our new dual-fuel service offering. We are well positioned for continued growth as we progress through 2015, our 20th year in business," Chief Executive Alan Foy said.
Smart Metering ended 2014 with net debt of GBP57.3 million, and a net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation ratio of 2.9 times. It had available cash plus an unused debt facility of GBP47.5 million at the end of the year.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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