(Alliance News) - Ince Group PLC said Thursday its revenue and pretax profit more than doubled in the first half, reflecting the inclusion of Ince UK business and overseas offices.
Gordon Dadds Group change its name to Ince Group back in August, having acquired the Ince & Co UK business in December 2018 and five international entities - in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Greece and Germany - in April.
The international legal and professional services provider said for the six months ended September 30, its revenue more than doubled to GBP45.3 million from GBP20.1 million in comparative period a year ago.
Ince Group said the increase in revenue was a result of the inclusion of the Ince UK business and overseas offices for the first time together with organic growth, estimated at 5.3% in the first half.
Pretax profit jumped to GBP10.7 million from GBP3.5 million, while adjusted pretax profit multiplied to GBP4.0 million from GBP1.1 million.
"As is usually for our business, the turnover and profits for the first half are expected to represent under half of both revenue and adjusted profit before tax for the full year," the company said.
The company said it has decided that the interim dividend should remain unchanged from last year at 2.0 pence, as the company is "expanding further through lateral hires which will require the commitment of additional working capital".
Ince Group said it is now operating from 23 offices in eight countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, up from 11 offices in two countries this time last year.
Chief Executive Officer Adrain Biles said: "These strong results are a vindication of our strategy. They are the product of the new international platform we have developed under the Ince brand."
"We remain on track to deliver circa GBP100 million of annualized revenue in the current financial year, even with political headwinds buffeting some key markets across the globe," Biles said.
Ince Group also announced the appointment of Mark Tantam as global head of consulting.
This appointment is a new position for Ince Group and reflects its plan to broaden its offering from legal and professional services into a wider range of business solutions, it said.
Tantam will report to chief executive Adrian Biles and will sit on the group's executive committee.
Tantam has spent the last 20 year as a partner at Deloitte UK, where he spent seven years as leader of the Forensics business and five years as one of the vice chairs of the accounting firm.
Ince Group shares were up 4.7% in London at 125.10 pence each on Thursday.
By Loreta Juodagalvyte; loretajuodagalvyte@alliancenews.com
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