4th Jun 2010 07:00
4 June 2010
Prime People Plc
Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 March 2010
Prime People Plc ("Prime People" or the "Group"), the built environment sector recruitment specialist, today announces its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2010.
Highlights:
|
|
Year ended 31 March 2010 |
Year ended 31 March 2009 |
Gross fee income |
|
£14.18m |
£20.67m |
Net fee income |
|
£6.67m |
£10.41m |
Profit before tax |
|
£0.46m |
£0.73m |
Fully diluted earnings per share |
|
2.71p |
4.18p |
Total dividend for the year |
|
3.5p |
0.00p |
Peter Moore Managing Director of Prime People, commented:
"These results show a significant half year on half year improvement. They are a testament to the hard work of our staff in testing times and I am pleased that the robustness of our business has allowed us to pay both an interim and final dividend.
The current year has shown a solid start and the new businesses in which we have invested and those that we are incubating are showing promise. Subject to the economies in which we operate not changing radically, the Company is well placed to have a successful year."
-Ends-
For further information please contact:
Prime People |
020 73181785 |
Robert Macdonald, Executive Chairman |
|
Chris Heayberd, Finance Director |
|
|
|
|
|
Cenkos Securities |
020 73978900 |
Nicholas Wells / Elizabeth Bowman |
|
Julian Morse (Sales/Broking) |
|
Chairman's statement
Introduction
I am pleased to report the results for Prime People Plc for the year ended 31 March 2010, which show profit before tax of £0.46m compared to £0.73m in 2009.
As was reported at the time of the publication of the Group's Interim Results, we had taken action to rationalise our management and organisation to reflect the level of business we expected to do in the remainder of the financial year and in order to position the Group to be profitable in the second half of the year. Shareholders will recall that the first half showed an operating loss of £46k before deduction of non-recurring items of £116k and that this contrasted favourably with the immediately preceding half year when the group recorded operating losses of £263k. As can be seen from these results, further positive progress has been made in the second half where profit before tax of £624k was recorded, confirming our stated expectation of a profitable second half.
Statutory Results
The Statutory results are set out in full in the financial statements and commented upon in the financial review.
The table below provides the main elements of the Group's performance for the year ended 31 March 2010.
|
|
Year ended 31 March 2010 |
Year ended 31 March 2009 |
||||
|
|
|
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Actual |
|
Actual |
|
Gross fee income |
|
|
|
14,180 |
|
20,668 |
|
Direct Costs |
|
|
|
(7,507) |
|
(10,255) |
|
Net fee income |
|
|
|
6,673 |
|
10,413 |
|
Admin Expenses |
|
|
|
(6,212) |
|
(9,663) |
|
Operating profit |
|
|
|
461 |
|
750 |
|
Net interest |
|
|
|
1 |
|
(23) |
|
Profit before tax |
|
|
|
462 |
|
727 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Taxation at 28% (2009:28%) |
|
|
|
(129) |
|
(190) |
|
Profit after tax |
|
|
|
333
|
|
537 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fully diluted EPS
|
|
|
|
2.71p |
|
4.18p |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basic EPS
|
|
|
|
2.79p |
|
4.47p
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prime People includes the trading businesses of Macdonald & Company, Prime Insight and Harper Craven Associates
Macdonald & Company
Macdonald remains our largest business providing executive and professional recruitment services to the built environment sector in the UK and internationally. In line with others in our sector we have seen a decrease in revenue and profit over the past year. Net fee income ("NFI") decreased by 38 per cent from £9.9m in 2009 to £6.1m in 2010. Details of the split between temporary and permanent net fee income is shown below:
|
Year ended 31 March 2010 |
Year ended 31 March 2009 |
||||
|
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
||
Net fee income - contract & temporary
|
1,467 |
|
2,570 |
|||
Net fee income - permanent |
|
|
|
|||
|
- UK - other |
2,606 2,017 |
|
4,138 3,192 |
||
|
|
|
|
|||
Total net fee income
|
6,090 |
|
9,900
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
||
Prime Insight
Prime Insight which started trading in August 2008 provides recruitment consultancy that deals exclusively with recruitment of Customer Insight, Market Research and Data Analysis professionals and in its first full year of trading made a profit before tax of £48k.
Harper Craven
Harper Craven, which has been in the group for a number of years, provides bespoke sales, marketing and management training and coaching programmes to a broad range of corporate clients. It has made a small loss of £1k before tax compared to a profit of £53k in 2009.
Dividend
The Group's focus on cash management resulted in a significant increase in the Group's cash position in the second half. As at 31 March 2010, the Group had net cash of £2.3 million compared to £1.79 million as at 31 March 2009 and the Board, having taken account of the prevailing economic conditions and the forecast need for working capital, decided that it was appropriate to declare an interim dividend of 2 pence per ordinary share. The working capital required to accomplish the planned future activity of the Group, as explained below, is adequately provided for and this has allowed the Board to propose a final dividend of 1.5 pence per ordinary share. This will be paid on 9 July 2010 to shareholders on the register on 25 June 2010 and brings the total dividend paid to shareholders for this year to 3.5 pence per ordinary share.
Future Activity
In the immediate future the Company will continue to concentrate on managing its established businesses to be profitable and ready to exploit cyclical opportunities that present themselves.
The success of the Prime Insight start-up and incubation provides a model for the use of the Group's solid platform from which to grow new recruitment businesses. Since the year-end, the Group has established a new business in Sustainability Recruitment, serving professionals in the energy, environmental, and corporate responsibility sectors. Recruitment consultants experienced in the sectors have been recruited to operate this new business from our London and UAE offices from the beginning of Q2 and our Hong Kong office from Q4 of our current financial year.
We continue actively to look for new opportunities, similar to Prime Insight and Sustainability Recruitment, which are culturally aligned with group companies and where the Group's core operational strength and office network will provide rapid market penetration.
Outlook
As referred to above, at Future Activity, the Group has embarked on expansion into new revenue areas by utilising its strong operational platform and overseas offices. Such activity is planned to be profit neutral as a minimum in the year.
The level of visibility on the upside for the Group is still generally difficult to assess, although our Asia operations are showing increasing promise and have performed well ahead of budget in the year to date. Since the year-end the Group has continued to trade profitably and, subject to there being no further significant economic shocks in the UK or the other regions in which the group operates, we expect to have a successful full year.
Our people
Finally, I should once again like to thank our staff for their hard work and commitment over the last twelve months and remind shareholders that these results are a testament to their efforts in testing times.
Robert Macdonald
Executive Chairman
3 June 2010
Consolidated income statement for the year ended 31 March 2010
|
Note |
Year ended 31 March 2010 |
Year ended 31 March 2009 |
||
|
|
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross fee income |
|
|
14,180 |
|
20,668 |
Direct costs |
|
|
(7,507) |
|
(10,255)
|
Net fee income |
|
|
6,673 |
|
10,413 |
Administrative expenses |
|
|
(6,212) |
|
(9,663)
|
Operating profit |
|
|
461 |
|
750 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Finance income |
|
|
12 |
|
14 |
Finance expense |
|
|
(11) |
|
(37) |
Profit before taxation |
|
|
462 |
|
727 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tax expense |
3 |
|
(129) |
|
(190)
|
Other comprehensive income |
|
|
333 - |
|
537 -
|
Total comprehensive income for the year |
|
|
333
|
|
537 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Attributable to: |
|
|
|
|
|
Equity holders of the parent |
|
|
333 |
|
537
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Retained profit |
|
|
333
|
|
537 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Earnings per share |
2 |
|
|
|
|
-Basic |
|
|
2.79p |
|
4.47p |
-Diluted |
|
|
2.71p |
|
4.18p |
|
|
|
|
|
|
-Continuing basic |
|
|
2.79p |
|
4.47p |
-Continuing diluted |
|
|
2.71p |
|
4.18p |
Consolidated statement of changes in shareholders' equity at 31 March 2010
|
|
Called up share capital |
|
Capital redemption reserve |
|
Treasury shares |
|
Share premium account |
|
Merger reserve |
|
Share option reserve |
|
Foreign currency translation |
|
Retained earnings |
|
Total |
|
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000
|
At 1 April 2008
|
|
1,203 |
|
- |
|
- |
|
7,095 |
|
173 |
|
136 |
|
(15) |
|
4,087 |
|
12,679 |
Equity dividends
|
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
(289) |
|
(289) |
Adjustment in respect of share schemes
|
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
40 |
|
- |
|
- |
|
40 |
Currency translation differences
|
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
501 |
|
- |
|
501 |
Profit for the year
|
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
537 |
|
537 |
At 31 March 2009
|
|
1,203 |
|
- |
|
- |
|
7,095 |
|
173 |
|
176 |
|
486 |
|
4,335 |
|
13,468 |
Equity dividends
|
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
(238) |
|
(238) |
Shares purchased for Treasury
|
|
- |
|
- |
|
(9) (9) |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
(9) |
Adjustment in respect of share schemes
|
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
(99) |
|
- |
|
113 |
|
14 |
Shares purchased for cancellation
|
|
(9) |
|
9 |
|
- |
|
(18) |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
(18) |
Currency translation differences
|
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
(18) |
|
- |
|
(18) |
Profit for the year
|
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
- |
|
333 |
|
333 |
At 31 March 2010
|
|
1,194 |
|
9 |
|
(9) (9) |
|
7,077 |
|
173 |
|
77 |
|
468 |
|
4,543 |
|
13,532 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prime People Plc
Consolidated statement of financial position at 31 March 2010
|
|
2010 |
|
2009 |
|
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Assets |
|
|
|
|
Non - current assets |
|
|
|
|
Goodwill |
|
9,769 |
|
9,769 |
Property, plant and equipment |
|
251 |
|
379 |
Deferred tax asset |
|
54 |
|
49
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10,074 |
|
10,197 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Current assets |
|
|
|
|
Trade and other receivables |
|
2,795 |
|
3,351 |
Cash and cash equivalents |
|
2,783 |
|
2,499
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5,578 |
|
5,850
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total assets
|
|
15,652 |
|
16,047 |
|
|
|
|
|
Liabilities |
|
|
|
|
Current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
Financial liabilities |
|
476 |
|
429 |
Trade and other payables |
|
1,514 |
|
1,848 |
Current tax liabilities
|
|
130 |
|
22 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2,120 |
|
2,299 |
|
|
|
|
|
Non-current liabilities |
|
|
|
|
Financial liabilities - borrowings
|
|
- |
|
280 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total liabilities
|
|
2,120 |
|
2,579 |
|
|
|
|
|
Net assets |
|
13,532 |
|
13,468
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Capital and reserves |
|
|
|
|
Called up share capital |
|
1,194 |
|
1,203 |
Capital redemption reserve fund |
|
9 |
|
- |
Treasury shares |
|
(9) |
|
- |
Share premium account |
|
7,077 |
|
7,095 |
Merger reserve |
|
173 |
|
173 |
Share option reserve |
|
77 |
|
176 |
Currency translation differences |
|
468 |
|
486 |
Retained earnings |
|
4,543 |
|
4,335 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Equity shareholders' funds |
|
13,532 |
|
13,468
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prime People Plc
Consolidated cash flow statement for the year ended 31 March 2010
|
|
Year ended 31 March 2010 |
|
Year ended 31 March 2009 |
|
Note |
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
|
|
|
|
Cash inflow / (outflow) from operating activities |
|
|
|
|
Cash generated by operations |
5 |
859 |
|
3,187 |
Corporation tax paid |
|
(78) |
|
(631) |
Corporation tax received |
|
51 |
|
- |
Net cash from operating activities
|
|
832 |
|
2,556 |
|
|
|
|
|
Cash inflow/(outflow) from investing activities |
|
|
|
|
Interest received |
|
12 |
|
14 |
Interest paid |
|
(11) |
|
(37) |
Net purchase of property, plant and equipment |
|
(51) |
|
(290) |
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash (used in)/from investing activities
|
|
(50) |
|
(313) |
|
|
|
|
|
Cash flows from financing activities |
|
|
|
|
Repayment of borrowings |
|
(280) |
|
(280) |
Purchase of own shares |
|
(18) |
|
- |
Treasury shares |
|
(9) |
|
- |
Dividend paid to shareholders |
|
(238) |
|
(289) |
|
|
|
|
|
Net cash used in financing activities |
|
(545) |
|
(569) |
|
|
|
|
|
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents |
|
237 |
|
1,674 |
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April 2009 |
2,350 |
|
676 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2010 |
|
2,587 |
|
2,350 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Notes to the preliminary announcement for the year ended 31 March 2010
1 Basis of preparation
The consolidated financial statements of Prime People Plc have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union (IFRSs as adopted by the EU), IFRIC interpretations and the Companies Act 2006 applicable to Companies reporting under IFRS. The consolidated financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.
2 Earnings per share
Earnings per share (EPS) has been calculated in accordance with IAS 33 "Earnings per share" and is calculated by dividing the profit attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the year.
Earnings and weighted average number of shares used in the calculations are shown below.
|
Year ended 31 March 2010 |
|
Year ended 31 March 2009 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
|
|
|
Retained profit for basic earnings per share |
333 |
|
537 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Number |
|
Number |
|
|
|
|
Weighted average number of shares used for basic and continuing earnings per share |
11,956,824 |
|
12,028,900 |
Dilutive effect of share options and shares to be issued
|
314,761 |
|
835,155 |
|
|
|
|
Diluted weighted average number of shares used for diluted earnings per share
|
12,271,585 |
|
12,864,055 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pence |
|
Pence |
|
|
|
|
Basic earnings per share |
2.79p |
|
4.47p |
Diluted earnings per share |
2.71p |
|
4.18p |
|
|
|
|
Continuing basic earnings per share |
2.79p |
|
4.47p |
Continuing diluted earnings per share |
2.71p |
|
4.18p |
Notes to the preliminary announcement for the year ended 31 March 2010 (continued)
3 Taxation
|
Year ended 31 March 2010 |
|
Year ended 31 March 2009 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
|
|
|
Current tax |
|
|
|
UK Corporation tax |
135 |
|
190 |
UK tax over provided in previous years
|
(1) |
|
(17) |
|
|
|
|
Total current tax |
134 |
|
173 |
|
|
|
|
Deferred tax |
|
|
|
Origination and reversal of temporary differences |
(5)
|
|
17 |
|
|
|
|
Total income tax expense in the income statement
|
129 |
|
190 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 Dividends
|
Year ended 31 March 2010 |
|
Year ended 31 March 2009 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
|
|
|
Final dividend for 2009: Nil p per share (2008: 2.40p per share) |
- |
|
288 |
Interim dividend for 2010: 2p per share (2009: Nil p per share)
|
238 |
|
- |
|
|
|
|
|
238 |
|
288
|
|
|
|
|
The directors propose to pay a final dividend in respect of the year ended 31 March 2010 of 1.5 pence per share which will be paid on 9 July 2010 to shareholders who are on the register on 25 June 2010.
Notes to the preliminary announcement for the year ended 31 March 2010 (continued)
5 Reconciliation of operating profit to net cash inflow from operating activities
|
Year ended 31 March 2010 |
|
Year ended 31 March 2009 |
|
£'000 |
|
£'000 |
|
|
|
|
Group operating profit |
461 |
|
750 |
Depreciation |
189 |
|
224 |
Share option reserve movement |
14 |
|
40 |
Effect of exchange rate changes |
(28) |
|
501 |
Decrease in debtors |
555 |
|
2,400 |
Decrease in creditors
|
(332) |
|
(728) |
|
|
|
|
|
859 |
|
3,187 |
|
|
|
|
6 Availability of Annual Report
A copy of the company's Annual report will be available on the Company's website www.prime-people.co.uk and will be posted to those shareholders who have requested a copy on or around 6 June 2010.
Related Shares:
PRP.L