LONDON (Alliance News) - Recruitment firm Hydrogen Group PLC on Tuesday hiked its dividend for 2018, following a swing to profit through revenue growth and a full-year contribution from recent acquisition Argyll Scott (Holdings) Ltd.
For the year, Hydrogen reported a pretax profit of GBP2.8 million, swinging from a loss of GBP1.4 million the year before, mainly due to a non-repeating cost of GBP2.0 million in 2017 from the integration of recruiter Argyll Scott, acquired in May 2017 for GBP3.3 million.
On an underlying basis, pretax profit rose to GBP3.0 million from GBP811,000.
Net fee income, equal to gross profit saw a double digit rise of 34% to GBP30.5 million from GBP22.8 million the prior year due to broad organic growth, particularly in the US and contributions from Argyll Scott.
Revenue for 2018 grew by 7.8% to GBP135.7 million from GBP125.9 million.
Hydrogen declared a final dividend of 1.0 pence per share, bringing the total payout to 1.5p, an 88% rise from 0.8p paid for 2017.
Looking ahead, Hydrogen said that its trading in 2019 to date has been in line with management expectations. The group remains confident in achieving continued growth for the year, but remains mindful of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.
"I am delighted to be reporting strong growth in net fee income on both a reported and a proforma basis, in each of the EMEA, APAC and US regions, which, together with improving conversion rates, has driven a transformation of the group's profitability and net cash position," said Chief Executive Officer Ian Temple.
"We look forward confidently to continued growth this year. Furthermore, the group is now in a strong position to accelerate this growth through selective acquisition and is actively pursuing opportunities," Temple added.
Shares in Hydrogen Group were up 0.8% at 67.00 pence on Tuesday.