(Alliance News) - Car manual company Haynes Publishing Group PLC on Thursday hailed its third consecutive year of revenue growth, helped by a strong performance by its Professional operating segment.
In the year ended March 31, Haynes delivered a 7.1% revenue rise to GBP36.2 million from GBP33.8 million but pretax profit fell by 48% to GBP1.9 million from GBP3.6 million.
The company attributed this to administrative expenses rising by 17% to GBP11.8 million from GBP10.1 million. The comparative period also included a GBP2.6 million gain following the disposal of a final freehold property at its former print and distribution facility in Nashville, US.
The company held its annual dividend at 7.5 pence after proposing a flat final payout of 4.0p per share.
The Professional operating segment, which provides technical data for the automotive industry, saw revenue increase by 19% to GBP19.5 million from GBP16.3 million. The unit was helped by the first full-year of trading of the E3 Technical business, acquired from Carweb Ltd in September 2017 for GBP4.7 million.
The Consumer unit, which publishes the company's eponymous car maintenance manual, had a 4.0% revenue decline. UK consumer revenue was 1% higher but in the US it was 6% lower, reflecting smaller numbers of orders of its products from key retailers, Haynes added.
The company said that both businesses showed improved year-on-year trading in the first quarter of the new financial year.
Chair Eddie Bell said: "I am delighted to report a third successive year of headline revenue growth. Our continued programme of product innovation, data integration and growing content coverage allows the group to deliver integrated work-flow solutions for our growing base of global partners.
"Through the extensive automotive knowledge and technological expertise we possess in the business, we are accelerating the linking of the group's content and datasets and our teams are well positioned to deliver new and exciting global growth opportunities for the Haynes Group."
Shares in Haynes were 7.3% higher at 236.00p each in London on Thursday morning.
