LONDON (Alliance News) - reach4entertaiment enterprises PLC Thursday expressed confidence for further progress in 2014 and beyond, as it saw pretax profit nearly double in 2013.
reach4entertainment is a media, marketing and event management company with operations in the New York and London.
The company posted a pretax profit of GBP308,000 in 2013, up from GBP162,000 in 2012, as revenue rose to GBP75.7 million from GBP69.3 million. Revenue growth was stronger in the second half than the first, the company said, and gross margin stayed broadly flat at 25.6%.
The company posted exceptional administrative expenses of GBP790,000 as it moved offices and impairments against goodwill of GBP181,000, although this was offset by a GBP907,000 reimbursement from a landlord.
At the company's London based operations revenue rose to GBP36.0 million from GBP33.2 million. Its Dewynters business revenue increased to GBP32.3 million from GBP29.0 million as it worked on several large West End shows, and the division is expected to show a similar good performance in 2014.
However, revenue at its Newmans business dropped to GBP3.7 million from GBP4.2 million as it was hit by the cancellation of some long-standing events at short notice. It said Newmans is expected to improve in 2014.
In the US, Spotco posted revenue of GBP39.4 million, up from GBP34.0 million, as it worked on a number of successful Broadway shows, and its strategy to diversify away from Broadway boosted results. SpotCo saw a strong start to 2014, the company said, continuing to work on successful shows started in 2013 and securing further show openings for 2014.
reach4entertainment made further progress on its cost-cutting plans during the year, saying it had eliminated GBP700,000 in head office costs during the past two years. Although this restructuring is now mostly completed, the company said that it expects further savings to come as it drives efficiency going forward rather than directly cutting costs.
"I am more confident about the Group's future now than at any time since I became involved with r4e and believe that we will continue to make progress throughout this year and beyond," said Executive Chairman David Stoller in a statement.
Shares in reach4entertainment were trading down 8.8% at 5.24 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright © 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
