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(Alliance News) - Alpha Financial Markets Consulting PLC on Wednesday said its annual revenue surged, though profit fell on one-off costs.
Shares in the company surged 10% to 190.00 pence each in London on Wednesday morning following the announcement. The stock remains down 24% so far in 2020.
In the year ended March 31, revenue climbed 17% to GBP90.9 million from GBP77.7 million. Pretax profit fell 26% to GBP9.3 million from GBP12.5 million.
The London-based company - which provides consultancy services to the asset and wealth management industry - said adjusting items more than doubled to GBP8.4 million from GBP3.6 million. These were "primarily driven by the group's acquisition activities in the year", the company explained.
The company in June bought peer Axxsys for an initial GBP9.0 million and in November purchased Obsidian, a UK-based lending services provider, for GBP5.7 million.
"The Alpha Group has delivered strong growth, expanded services and products, made two successful acquisitions and enhanced its market-leading reputation for the quality of its people and service delivery excellence," Chief Executive Officer Euan Fraser said.
"Following another successful year, we are now in a period of economic uncertainty relating to the Covid-19 pandemic. We continue to monitor the situation and will take appropriate actions to manage the business to address the potential impacts of Covid-19."
Alpha Financial decided against a final dividend, making its 2.1p interim payout its only one. Its total dividend was therefore down 65% from 6.00p.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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