LONDON (Alliance News) - Bilby PLC Thursday said it has increased its annual dividend by almost 19% after underlying profit soared on the back of strong revenue growth, but the bottom-line profit came in lower than the previous year.
The company, which provides building and maintenance services in London and the South East, said the pretax profit in the financial year to the end of March leapt to GBP2.9 million from GBP1.8 million last year after revenue increased to GBP31.5 million from GBP14.7 million.
However, including exceptional items of GBP1.5 million, Bilby's reported profit before tax was down 22% year-on-year to GBP1.4 million from GBP1.8 million.
The exceptional items included charges against framework development costs, amortisation, share-based payment charges and acquisition costs.
Gross profit in the year was up to GBP6.7 million from GBP3.7 million, but the margin was squeezed to 21.1% from 24.7% the year before whilst the operating profit margin fell to 9.4% from 12.5%.
The dividend for the year was increased to 2.75 pence from 2.32 pence.
"I am pleased to report significant progress on our strategy set out following our admission to AIM to expand Bilby's businesses via both organic and acquisitive growth to gain the critical mass required to tender for larger contracts. We believe that the fundamental strengths of Bilby's scalable business model has clearly been demonstrated over the year," said Bilby.
Founder and Deputy Chairman Phil Copolo said the business has visible future revenues totalling GBP240.0 million whilst continuing to bid for a number of new contracts with local authorities and social housing organisations.
"We have several tender opportunities where we are awaiting outcomes at the current time. This, combined with our focus on operational excellence and customer satisfaction and a marketplace with significant opportunity, underpins our confidence for the future," he said.
Bilby shares were down 1.2% to 123.50 pence per share on Thursday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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