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LONDON (Alliance News) - Wilmington Group PLC Wednesday reported growth in revenue and adjusted pretax profit for the first half of the year, while saying that it continues to trade in line with management expectations and is on target for the full year.
The training, events, publishing and information company posted a pretax profit of GBP3.7 million for the six months to end-December, flat year-on-year. However, its adjusted pretax profit, which strips out some restructuring costs, amortisation and share-based payments, was up 14% at GBP8.1 million from GBP7.1 million.
Revenue increased 7% to GBP46.1 million, up from GBP43.1 million last year. International revenue now makes up 38% of its total revenue, it said, while subscription and repeatable information sales make up around 76%.
"The first half was very successful overall, with stronger growth reported from our larger and highest margin division, Risk & Compliance, supported by contribution from our Finance division. The Insight division performed well recording both revenue and margin growth," the company said in a statement.
Wilmington said that it continued to experience challenging trading conditions in its Legal division, which caused the division's underlying revenue to decline, albeit at a slower rate than before.
The company increased its interim dividend by 3% to 3.7 pence per share. It said it intends to pay a progressive dividend whilst ensuring a cover of at least two times the group's adjusted earnings per share over the dividend per share
"We are seeing tighter regulatory control and more complex legislation implemented in most of our key markets and we remain confident that these changes will continue to drive the demand for our products and services globally," the company said.
Wilmington said it saw strong first-half trading momentum from its Risk & Compliance division, where revenue rose 15%, and its Finance division, were revenue increased 10%. Revenue from its Insight division was up 4%.
"We are on target to deliver further growth in the full year, in line with our expectations and underpinned by the strong momentum in the Risk & Compliance and Finance divisions," it added.
Wilmington shares were trading 3.5% higher at 224.66 pence Wednesday mid-morning on the back of its earnings report.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; rowenaharrisdoughty@alliancenews.com; @rharrisdoughty
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