Premier Technical Services posts positive boost to earnings

(ShareCast News) - Niche specialist services provider Premier Technical Services Group announced its interim results for the six months to 30 June on Tuesday, with revenue rising 57% year-on-year to £18.5m.The AIM-traded firm said organic growth contributed strongly to the result at 21%, with operating profit growth being reported at 47% to £3.7m.Gross profit was up 49%, to £9.5m.Premier's board said the integration of the six '2015 businesses' had been fully completed with a strong contribution to growth in H1, as well as new sector expansion with two further acquisitions of UK DryRisers and UK DryRisers Maintenance.It reported a strong contract win and renewal rate of 80%, and adjusted earnings per share of 3.19p, rising 44%.In line with its progressive dividend policy, the interim dividend was increased by 52% to 0.70p per share."We have a distinctive, scaleable and efficient operating model which can deliver a broad range of niche specialist services on a national basis," said chairman John Foley."We serve a fragmented, broad customer base and currently provide services to more than 100,000 buildings on behalf of over 12,500 customers."We have identified a pipeline of carefully selected acquisition targets which can in due course further expand our range of service offerings," Foley explained.He said the company intended to continue along the path of producing organic growth on existing and acquired business through the expansion of service offerings and by gaining market share due to the increased scale, range and efficiency of its activities."The group is trading in line with recently upgraded market expectations and we continue to face the future with confidence," he added.