(Alliance News) - Smart Metering Systems PLC said Tuesday it sharply swung to a profit in the first half of 2020, mainly through a one-off gain on the disposal of some metering assets, alongside revenue growth.
The gas and electricity smart meter installer said for the six months to the end of June it improved to a pretax profit of GBP194.5 million, compared to a loss of GBP1.7 million a year before.
Smart Metering Systems' profit performance was helped by the sale of 187,000 meter assets with a weighted average age of 4.7 years to UK investment firm Equitix Investment Management Ltd for GBP291 million.
This generated a gain on disposal of GBP194.7 million for the period.
On an underlying basis, pretax profit rose by 91% to GBP9.1 million from GBP4.6 million.
Revenue remained flat at GBP54.2 million; however index-linked annualised recurring revenue - the group's key financial metric - increased by 11% to GBP75.9 million from GBP68.3 million.
As at June 30, Smart Metering Systems' total number of metering and data assets under management remained flat at 3.7 million, compared to the end of December.
Looking ahead, the group intends to pay a 25 pence per share dividend for 2020 as a whole, and in line with its new policy, to increase the payout by 10% per annum until 2024.
Operationally, Smart Metering's ILARR as at August 31 from meter and data assets stood at GBP76.6 million, up from GBP75.9 million a year before, while total meter and data assets under management rose to 3.8 million from 3.7 million. Despite Covid-19 ,the group has continued to trade in line with expectations, with revenue and underlying profitability also remaining in line, it said.
"The entire team at SMS has demonstrated outstanding resilience and commitment in the face of the challenges presented by Covid-19. We are well positioned, both financially and operationally, to deliver on our sizeable contracted smart meter order pipeline and move forward with the development of CaRe assets. Together, these will support the next phase of our evolution as a business at the heart of smart energy management," said Chief Executive Officer Alan Foy.
Shares in Smart Metering Systems were up 5.2% at 662.41 pence on Tuesday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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