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(Alliance News) - RA International Group PLC on Friday upped its final dividend payout, as it reported a rise in its earnings for 2019.
The stock was trading 7.5% higher at 36.56 pence each on Friday morning in London.
For 2019, the Africa and Middle East-focused construction and support services provider posted pretax profit of USD13.3 million, up 34% from USD9.8 million reported for 2018.
Revenue rose to USD69.1 million from USD54.8 million on higher activity in the second half which contributed USD46.0 million to total group revenue.
Gross profit margin decreased to 32% from 38%, hurt by the delay in a contract award in the first half as well as the mix of business.
RA International declared a final dividend of 1.25 per share, up from 1.0p declared the year prior.
Looking ahead, the company said that while it expects the Covid-19 outbreak to significantly hurt its performance in 2020 due to contract delays, it is confident in is ability to continue trading.
Revenue for the first quarter of 2020 was USD17.9 million.
"At present, it is not possible to quantify the financial impact Covid-19 might have on the company since the scheduling of some projects is now unclear. This said, we believe that as a provider of critical services, when Covid-19 is contained or possibly sooner, we will return to work as normal, executing against our order book and continuing to bid for new projects," said Chief Executive Soraya Narfeldt.
As at the end of 2019, RA International's order book stood at USD141.0 million. At the end of March, the order book was USD138.8 million and the company had net cash of USD 21.4 million.
By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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