Empresaria Group books record earnings in 2015

(ShareCast News) - Empresaria Group's revenue was down slightly in 2015, but the company reported record profit before tax and growth in earnings per share as it published its final results on Wednesday.The AIM-traded specialist staffing group saw revenue dip 0.3% during the calendar year, to £187.3m, from £187.9m.Its net fee income was up 10% to £49.2m, and operating profit improved 19% to £7.6m. Empresaria recorded a profit before tax of £7.1m, up 20%.The company's diluted earnings per share were 9.3p, and its adjusted earnings per share were 9.9p, both up 24% on 2014.Empresaria's board recommended a final dividend of 1p, up 43% on 2014's 0.7p distribution."Announcing record profit levels and our largest investment for eight years is testament to the strength of our strategy of building a diversified group and developing leading brands," said chief executive Joost Kreulen."We have made good progress against this strategy, with net fee income growth across all of our regions and an improved conversion ratio, helping to reduce debt levels again, down below our target ratio of 25% 'debt to debtors'," he added.During the year, the company opened a new US region through the purchase of Pharmaceutical Strategies, which Kreulen said diversified the group geographically as well as strengthened its presence in the high-growth healthcare market."In line with our brand led strategy we continued to invest in the business with average staff numbers up 16% year on year. We opened a second brand in the UAE," he explained."The investments made in 2014 have been successfully integrated into the group and with the new office openings have contributed positively against the prior year," Kreulen concluded.Empresaria's board and management remained confident in the company's prospects going forward, with Kreulen saying there were exciting opportunities across the group in spite of current global uncertainty.