LONDON (Alliance News) - Business recovery and property services company Begbies Traynor Group PLC on Wednesday said its pretax profit dipped sharply in the first half despite higher revenue amid difficult market conditions for the company.
Begbies said its pretax profit for the half to the end of October fell to GBP600,000, down from GBP1.5 million, despite revenue rising to GBP25.5 million from GBP20.8 million.
The rise in revenue was mainly driven by acquisitions the company made for its business recovery and property services arms, but this failed to offset the impact of challenging market conditions. In the six months to the end of September, the number of corporate insolvencies in the UK dropped 10% year-on-year, cutting the volume of work for Begbies' business.
The company said the results were in line with its expectations and said it would keep its interim dividend flat at 0.60 pence per share.
"With no indications of a change to the benign financing environment in the UK which would cause an increase in insolvency levels, we remain cautious about activity levels in the insolvency division in the near term and will continue to focus on managing costs accordingly," said Ric Traynor, executive chairman of the group.
"Overall, our expectations for the year as a whole remain unchanged. We will continue to look for opportunities to develop and enhance the group, both organically and through selective acquisitions," he added.
Shares in Begbies were down 3.5% to 41.00p.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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Begbies (BEG)