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LONDON (Alliance News) - Worthington Group PLC Friday said it swung to a profit in the first-half after making a gain on the acquisition of its stake in a legal claims company, and said it is in discussions to make investments in a number of other sectors, sending its shares surging higher as they returned from suspension.
Worthington shares jumped 900% to 32.5 pence on Friday, comfortably making it the London market's top riser. Its shares were restored to trading on Friday morning, having been suspended since November 2013.
The firm said it made a pretax profit of GBP8.7 million in the half-year to March 31, against a loss of GBP5.3 million the year before. The swing to profit was down to the acquisition of a stake in Law Financial Ltd for GBP1 million. The fair value of the net assets acquired in the deal was GBP10 million and, under International Financial Reporting Standards, Worthington's income was given a GBP9 million boost from the deal.
Revenues for Worthington in the period hit GBP1,000, flat on the year before.
The investment firm said it was in talks to acquire assets in the energy, mining and media sectors and said it expects to make announcements soon which will add to its revenues for the coming six months.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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