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LONDON (Alliance News) - Jaywing PLC, which is going through a restructuring after selling its e-commerce business, Friday reported a sharply lower first-half pretax profit as operating expenses rose, but its revenues and operating profits increased thanks to a recovery in its agency business.
The brand marketing agency and consulting company reported a pretax profit of GBP16,000 for the six months to end-September compared with GBP917,000 a year earlier. It swung to a net loss of GBP4.6 million compared with a profit of GBP457,000 a year earlier as it booked a loss of GBP4.6 million on the sale of the e-commerce business.
Revenues increased to GBP13.2 million, from GBP12.95 million a year earlier, and it reported a gross profit of GBP16.3 million, up from GBP14.7 million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation before other income were GBP1.7 million, up from GBP1.3 million.
"As the group continues its restructuring and repositioning I am pleased to report a stable underlying operating performance from continuing operations. The disposal of our e-Commerce arm positions us well for strategic investment in the coming period and we remain on plan in our efforts to turnaround the business," Chairman Andrew Wilson said in a statement.
It said the agency part of the business had recovered from a weak year last year, with Ebitda more than doubling to GBP1.4 million. However, Ebitda at the remaining consulting business fell to GBP0.9 million, from GBP1.7 million, which the company blamed on the completion of a substantial consultancy engagement supporting a financial services client.
Jaywing shares were up 0.3% at 2.3075 pence Friday morning.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @SteveMcGrath1
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