Johnson Service boosts dividend

Textile rental and facilities management business Johnson Service revealed a sharp rise in adjusted pre-tax profit and underlined its confidence in future trading with an increased dividend payment.Adjusted pre-tax profit jumped 52.8% to £5.5m for the six months to the end of June while revenues eased to £96.1m compared with a restated £97.1m a year ago. An interim dividend of 0.40p has been recommended, up 11.1% on a year ago.Executive chairman John Talbot said the results were in line with the group's expectations as a number of strategic initiatives came to fruition. "The disposal of the FM activities represents a major step in the board's strategy to refocus the group on our original core business of textile services and to reduce net debt," he said."Our textile rental business performed strongly; the Cannon acquisition is now fully integrated and we see a major opportunity for continued expansion within textile rental.Johnson said after major restructuring, it is starting to see a significant improvement in the dry cleaning business, both in terms of like-for-like growth and profitability."Our confidence in the performance of the group and the reduced level of debt is reflected in the board's decision to increase the interim dividend, it said. CJ Johnson Service