LONDON (Alliance News) - SimplyBiz Group PLC on Tuesday said its annual profit was lower as operating expenses surged, but posted a rise in revenue in its first full year as a listed company.
SimplyBiz shares were trading up 2.5% at 185.00p each Tuesday and is up 8.8% from its IPO price of 170.00p. The company listed on AIM in April with a total market value of GBP130.0 million.
For 2018 the company, which provides business services to financial advisers, posted pretax profit of GBP4.2 million compared to GBP5.5 million a year ago. Revenue increased year-on-year to GBP50.7 million from GBP44.1 million.
However, the profit growth was hampered by higher operating expenses which surged to GBP43.8 million compared to GBP35.3 million.
SimplyBiz proposed a final dividend of 2.05 pence per share. This, in addition to the interim dividend of 0.98p, takes the total payout of the company to 3.03p per share.
Looking ahead, the company said it is "well placed" to continue to take advantage of the opportunities arising in the markets it operates in.