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(Alliance News) - Audio products maker Focusrite PLC boosted its dividend Tuesday after annual profit and revenue rose on a year before, despite warning first-quarter revenue is likely to be lower than a year prior.
For the financial year ended August, pretax profit widened 11% to GBP13.0 million from GBP11.7 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 13% to GBP84.7 million from GBP75.1 million the year before.
"I am very proud to present another set of positive results, following an extremely busy year for the group, with both top line revenue and profit growing and the successful completion of our first major acquisition," Chief Executive Officer Tim Carroll said. "We have remained focused on executing our growth strategy whilst ensuring the group was taking the correct and necessary measures to mitigate any potential disruption from the numerous macro-economic issues at hand."
In July, Focusrite acquired Pro Audio Beteiligungs GmbH - which owns ADAM Audio - for GBP15.3 million in cash.
"This positive performance has been driven by a number of factors," Carroll added. "Most notably new product introductions this year, including our third generation of Scarlett audio interfaces, which have resonated well with customers and provided an incremental lift. We are also witnessing positive results from many of our IT-based initiatives that were implemented and funded over the past few years."
Focusrite proposed a 2.6 pence per share final dividend, up 13% from 2.3p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 15% to 3.8p from 3.3p the year before.
"Since the year end, ADAM Audio has continued to grow ahead of both prior year and our initial expectations," Carroll said. "Within the Focusrite and Novation businesses, first quarter revenue is likely to be lower than the same period last year."
"However, this is not unexpected: revenue in the first quarter of last year benefited from the initial effect of the price increases in the US, introduced as a consequence of US tariffs, and revenue in the first quarter of this year has been impacted by the increased strength of sterling", Carroll continued.
Shares in Focusrite were 6.9% lower at 550.00 pence in London on Tuesday.
By Ahren Lester; ahrenlester@alliancenews.com
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