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LONDON (Alliance News) - Maintel Holdings PLC on Tuesday reported higher first-half net profit and said it expects an improved performance in the second half due to a "large backlog" of new orders and "strong" sales.
The telecommunications services company also raised its interim dividend, to 12.8 pence from 9.3p, as it moved towards paying out 50% of its earnings to shareholders.
Pretax profit was down to GBP2.09 million in the six months to June 30, compared with GBP2.10 million in the corresponding half the prior year, according to Maintel, which provides communication services to businesses either on-premises or through the cloud online.
However, earnings per share, adjusted for the acquisition of Proximity in October 2014 and deferred tax charges on Datapoint profits, increased by 30% to 27.4 pence.
Revenue grew by 20% to GBP24.8 million, which coincided with an improvement in gross margin to 38.3% from 35.7%, while administrative expenses were up by 39% to GBP7.2 million.
"The pipeline continues to grow and our success in being appointed as an approved supplier on the new network services public sector framework agreement will offer us the opportunity to tender for business not previously available to us," Eddie Buxton said in a statement.
"With regards to acquisitions, our immediate focus remains on completing the integration of Proximity and our move to new premises before the year end, however we remain alert to opportunities as they arise," Buxton added.
Maintel shares were up 7.7% at 649.00 pence on Tuesday morning in London.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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