(Alliance News) - Financial technology outsourcer Equiniti Group PLC boosted its interim dividend Friday, after profit tripled amid rising revenue, as it continued to make progress in its core UK business and new US operations.
For the six months ended June, pretax profit tripled to GBP11.6 million from GBP3.7 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 8.3% to GBP275.1 million from GBP254.0 million the year before, up 3.2% on an organic basis.
"During the first half of the year we have made pleasing progress in three important areas," Equiniti Chief Executive Officer Guy Wakeley said. "We have completed the technical separation of our North American business from Wells Fargo and are delivering our investment thesis for the US market with strong organic growth, new product launches, client wins and the realisation of material operating synergies."
"Our market-leading UK franchises in share registration and share plans continue to grow organically, where the differentiated quality and breadth of our offerings are delivering increasing market share," Wakeley added. "Whilst the pensions software and administration market remains challenging, we are making good progress in stabilising the performance of our Pension Solutions division."
Equiniti proposed a 1.95 pence per share interim dividend, up 7.1% from 1.82 pence the year prior.
"We are continuing to deliver our long-term strategy of sustainable organic growth, focus on our core specialisms and accelerating progress in North America," Wakeley continued. "We are pleased with the performance in the first half and despite the current uncertainty of the UK economy, the strength of our franchise and the non-discretionary nature of our services underpin our confidence in delivering market expectations for the full year."
Over the medium term, Equiniti is targeting organic revenue growth of between 3% and 7% per year with "gradual" margin improvement of around 25 basis points per year.
For the interim period, Equiniti reported underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin declined to 22.1% from 23.1% the year prior.
Shares in Equiniti were 1.5% lower at 206.46 pence in London on Friday.
