LONDON (Alliance News) - Fulcrum Utility Services Ltd on Tuesday said its pretax profit was boosted by operational efficiencies in the business which expanded its margins in the year to the end of March, prompting it to more than double its dividend payout.
Fulcrum, an energy and multi-utility infrastructure and services company, said its pretax profit for the financial year to March 31 was GBP4.3 million, sharply higher than the GBP606,000 it made the year earlier. Revenue ticked up to GBP34.5 million from GBP33.7 million, but the rise in profit was driven by a drop in the company's cost of sales.
Complemented by a move to direct delivery of its services, these operational savings helped gross margin improve 880 basis points.
Over the course of the year, Fulcrum secured an extension to its framework deal with British Gas, the gas and electricity provider owned by Centrica PLC, and secured a range of new gas, electricity and multi-utility contracts, including work linking four distilleries to the main gas network in Scotland.
Fulcrum will pay a final dividend of 0.6 pence per share, meaning its total payout more than doubled to 0.9p from 0.4p the year before.
"Fulcrum has continued to make excellent progress this year, achieving our objectives and strategy. With a sustained focus on customer service excellence, we can look forward to building on recent contract wins and further expanding our multi-utility services," said Chairman Phil Holder.
"The group's order book and operating cash flow both remain strong and support our strategy for growth. We believe the outlook remains positive and that the group continues to be well positioned to make further progress in 2017," Holder added.
Shares in Fulcrum were down 4.0% to 41.05p Tuesday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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