(Alliance News) - DWF Group PLC on Wednesday hiked its dividend despite a double-digit fall in profit in the first half of its current financial year.
In addition, the Manchester-headquartered company has agreed to acquire Spanish law firm Rousaud Costas Duran for up to EUR50.5 million in shares and cash.
The initial consideration consists of EUR7.4 million in cash and EUR27.6 million in newly issued DWF shares, the company said. An additional cash consideration of up to EUR15.5 million will be partly deferred and partly contingent on performance.
The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2019 and to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share in the first full financial year post-completion.
"The transaction complements the group's existing international offering and boosts our expertise and ability to support clients in Spain, and provide access to an extensive network of connections across the Iberian peninsula as well as Latin America," said DWF Chief Executive Andrew Leaitherland.
Turning back to results, the legal services firm said pretax profit for the six months to the end of October declined by 12% to GBP4.7 million compared to GBP5.3 million it delivered a year prior, due to a GBP1.0 million interest paid on leases compared with none a year ago.
Meanwhile, revenue grew by 11% to GBP174.1 million from GBP157.2 million year-on-year. DWF said the vast majority of this growth was organic, though it continues to look at further acquisitions.
DWF declared an interim dividend of 1.25 pence a share, which will be paid in December, up 25% from 1.00p paid a year ago.
"Our business continues to evolve in line with our strategy, with International and Connected Services being our key areas of investment. This is evident in the growth achieved in the first half of the year in these two divisions, with further investments made in key capabilities and locations where our clients need us to be, such as Poland and Dusseldorf, Germany. This will help to drive the business forward in the second half of this year and beyond," said Chief Executive Andrew Leaitherland.
DWF shares were trading 0.9% lower in London on Wednesday morning at 119.47p each.
By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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