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(Alliance News) - IG Design Group PLC on Tuesday announced good results for last year's financial year and looks forward to the year ahead after promising first quarter results.
The consumer gift packaging business said its group revenue for the financial year ended March 31 increased by 10% to GBP494.2 million, compared to last year's GBP448.4 million.
The Americas revenue saw the biggest growth of 23% to USD355.9 million, from USD289.9 million year on year. The Americas also makes up the largest percentage of the company's revenue at 56%.
Australia recorded the largest decline in revenue for the year, with a decline of 15% to AUS60.1 million, down from AUS70.3 million in the year prior. This was accredited to lost business with some national retailers as well as the active decision to cease doing business with some unreliable customers.
Adjusted pretax profit for the year came in just under last year's at GBP29.1 million, with last year's at GBP30.3 million. It is important to note the impact this year, when comparing results with last year, of the adoption of IFRS16, IG Design Group said. IFRS16 is an international financial reporting standard for lease accounting which came into force on January 1, 2019, and ended up adding GBP1.6 million to the company's full year expenses.
IG Design Group saw its pretax profit for the year swing sharply to GBP300,000, from GBP17.3 million in the year prior. This is owed to increased disruptions of the year, the company said, which is reflected in the increased size and numbers of adjusting items which totaled GBP28.8 million, up from GBP13.0 million year on year.
The company crossed the financial year's finish line, after an incurred GBP28.8 million in adjusting items, with a positive net cash balance of GBP42.3 million, up from GBP17.1 million year on year.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share was 26.9 pence, down from 29.1 pence each in the year prior. This drop was due to a higher diluted share number following the share raise in the final quarter ending March 31 of the financial year.
Diluted earnings per share was 16.9 pence, up from 15.9 pence year on year. This, according to the company, reflected the benefit of the CSS tax credits relating to changes in the US tax rules that were enacted following acquisition of consumer product manufacturer CSS Industries Inc.
IG Design Group recommended a final dividend of 5.75 pence per share, bringing the full year dividend to 8.75 pence per share.
IG Design Group said its first quarter ending June 30 showed a strong start against the company's own Covid-19 forecasts with reported revenues higher than the prior year. This is owed to the acquisition of CSS.
Like-for-like revenue, excluding CSS, was ahead of its adjusted Covid-19 expectations but were still down 28% year on year.
IG Design Group said: "Despite the lower like for like revenues group adjusted profit before tax benefitted from sales margin mix, effective cost management in the period together with the CSS results which overall delivered a group outcome in line with the prior year and significantly better than our Covid-19 plan."
The company reported a strong pipeline of orders in excess of USD500 million.
This year's financial year revenue is expected to remain ahead of last year's revenue following the acquisition of CSS and its contributions to the company, however group revenue will still be down from the IG Design Group's pre Covid-19 expectations, the company said.
Chief Executive Paul Fineman said: "Despite these challenges it has also been a year of exciting opportunities, including our largest ever acquisition, which provides significant scope for future expansion as well as considerable integration and synergy benefits.
"Whilst the period ahead remains uncertain our orderbook exceeds USD500 million and we are confident in not only our resilience, but our ability to return to significant growth. "
Shares in IG Design were up 3.4% at 520.00 pence on Tuesday in London.
By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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