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LONDON (Alliance News) - Engineering services company Renew Holdings PLC on Tuesday said its first half pretax profit grew on higher revenue, prompting a hike to its dividend.
Renew said its pretax profit for the six months to the end of March grew to GBP8.8 million from GBP7.7 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP265.1 million from GBP252.1 million. The group's underlying operating margin also improved, up to 4.0% from 3.9%.
Renew said its order book at the close of the half grew to GBP515.0 million from GBP471.0 million, driven by a strong performance in its engineering services division. It added all expected revenue for the second half the financial year has been secured.
The company said it will hike its interim dividend 18% year-on-year to 2.65 pence, up from 2.25p.
Roy Harrison, Renew's chairman, said the group expects further progress to be made in the second half and is well-positioned to continue improving margins and boosting profit.
Shares in Renew were up 1.2% to 369.03p early Tuesday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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