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LONDON (Alliance News) - Renew Holdings PLC hiked its interim dividend 15% Tuesday after profit and revenue both jumped in "record" results for the AIM-listed engineering services firm.
For the six months ended March, pretax profit jumped to GBP14.5 million from GBP2.4 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 15% to GBP301.0 million from GBP262.2 million the year before.
The order book stood at GBP580 million at the end of March, up 3.9% from the GBP558 million reported six months earlier. Meanwhile, net debt dropped 20% to GBP17.2 million from GBP21.4 million six months earlier.
"The group has delivered record interim results, in part reflecting the contribution of QTS which we acquired in the second half of last year," Renew Chair David Forbes said.
In May 2018, Renew acquired rail contractor QTS Group Ltd for GBP80.0 million in cash to boost its footprint in the rail market.
Renew proposed a 3.83 pence per share interim dividend, up 15% from 3.33p the year prior.
"We are pleased to have increased the interim dividend by 15% consistent with our progressive dividend policy," Forbes added. "We continue to deliver on our established strategic objectives and remain confident of reporting full year results in line with expectations."
Shares in Renew were 3.2% higher at 427.20 pence on Tuesday.
