15th May 2018 08:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 100-listed support services firm DCC PLC hiked its dividend Tuesday after its profit and revenue showed "strong" growth after good growth across all of its divisions.
For the year ended March, pretax profit climbed to GBP260.2 million from GBP248.5 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose to GBP14.26 billion from GBP12.27 billion.
Profit performance was held back by GBP44.8 million in exceptional items, up from GBP26.2 million the year prior. The bulk of these exceptional items were restructuring costs of GBP29.4 million, up from GBP19.4 million the year before.
Adjusted pretax profit - excluding exceptional items - rose to GBP305.0 million from GBP274.7 million.
DCC proposed a final dividend per share of 82.09 pence, up 10% from 74.63p. For the full year, the dividend also rose 10% to 122.98p from 111.80p.
DCC Chief Executive Officer Donal Murphy said it had been "another year of strong growth for DCC, with each division recording good growth in operating profit."
"It was also a record year of development for the group, with approximately GBP670 million of capital spent on acquisitions, the highest level of spend in DCC's history," Murphy added. "The acquisition activity during the year again demonstrates DCC's ability to acquire and integrate businesses in our existing markets to strengthen our market positions, build scale and increase our relevance and service offerings to customers and suppliers.
"Importantly, it also reflects our strategy to extend our geographic footprint over time, as evidenced by DCC LPG's first acquisitions in the US and Asia and DCC Healthcare's first acquisition in the US," Murphy added. "These acquisitions in new markets will provide further opportunities for both organic and acquisitive growth for the group."
Murphy added that he expects DCC's current financial year will be "another year of profit growth and development".
Shares in DCC were 1.0% higher at 7,145.00 pence on Tuesday.
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