LONDON (Alliance News) - Redde PLC on Thursday upped its total dividend after posting an increase in annual profit by 26%.
For the financial year ended June 30, the support services company's pretax profit jumped to GBP40.0 million from GBP31.7 million a year prior, as revenue rose 12%.
Revenue for the year was GBP527.0 million, up from GBP472.3 million a year ago, in a record performance topping GBP500 million for the first time, the company said.
"Sales growth principally reflects a 19% growth in the number of credit hires together with a 3.4% increase in the total number of repairs undertaken and higher activity within the group's fleet and incident management businesses," the company explained.
The company proposed a total annual dividend up 9.9% year-on-year to 11.65 pence per share from 10.60p, after issuing a final dividend of 6.15p, up from 5.60p a year ago.
"The proposed payment of the group's 14th consecutive dividend, together with dividends paid since June 2013, now amount to GBP140.3 million. The group continues to generate quality, sustainable earnings by serving a large and growing number of businesses and fulfilling hundreds of thousands of physical transactions each year to businesses and consumers," Chief Executive Officer Martin Ward said.
Looking ahead, Redde said it continues to seek acquisitions that meet its "stringent investment criteria".
Furthermore, the company said that the first two months of the year have started "well" with the board considering the outlook for the year as "positive".
Back in June, the company had said it was confident in the year's results after a continued positive trend in the last quarter's trading performance.
Redde shares were trading up 0.3% at 174.60p each.
The company will hold its annual general meeting on October 24.