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LONDON (Alliance News) - Aeorema Communications PLC on Wednesday said its revenue increased in its recently ended financial year, but profit took a hit from exceptional costs associated with the departure of its two founders.
The AIM-traded live events agency said pretax profit dipped to GBP58,685 in the year to the end of June compared to GBP248,887 reported for the same period a year before, despite revenue climbing 16% to GBP4.8 million from GBP4.2 million.
Excluding exceptional items, pretax profit rose by 17% to GBP289,650. The exceptional items were in relation to the departure of the company's two founders from the board.
Former Deputy Chairman & Creative Director Peter Litten and ex-Chief Executive Gary Fitzpatrick in September 2017 advised they wanted to leave the company to pursue other interests.
Steve Quah and Andrew Harvey were appointed as joint managing directors to replace Litten and Fitzpatrick.
During the financial year, Aeorema said it successfully staged several large events for blue-chip clients in the UK, France, Italy, and Germany.
The company's film production business also continued to develop during the year, it noted. The films produced included films for internal training, high level strategy films, and branded content.
Aeorema upped its annual payout to 0.75 pence a share from 0.5p paid the year earlier.
"The results for the financial year ended June 2018 were good considering the challenges and distraction of the management changes," explained Chairman Mike Hale.
"Looking forward to the financial 2019 and beyond the outlook is very positive," Hale continued. "The strength of the new team has led to an excellent series of new business gains since the year end with both existing and new clients."
Aeorema shares were trading 3.9% higher on Wednesday at 27.00 pence each.
