Utilitywise jumps on strong first half results and acquisition

Shares in Utilitywise rose over 5% on Tuesday, after the energy and water consultancy business said its first half pre-tax profit rose on the back of a sharp increase in revenue from its core Enterprise division.In the six months to 31 January, the London-listed group reported a pretax profit of £6.4m, up 60% year-on-year, while revenue jumped 42.4% to £29.9m, as sales from its Enterprise division rose 47% in the period.The business, which focuses on small, medium and multi-site opportunities generated £24.3m in revenue in the first half, a 47.2% increase from 2013, as the group successfully recruited more energy consultants, bringing its tally from 449 at the end of January to 549 consultants at the end of March.Utilitywise said revenue also benefited from customers extending their contracts, with customer contract renewals and extensions accounting for 42% of the division's revenue in the first half compared to 32% a year earlier."Although extensions will continue to be a feature going forward, post period end we have increased our efforts towards the acquisition of new customers, which we have been successful in converting," the company said in a statement on Tuesday.The AIM-listed company said its total customer base increased to 22,048 in the period from 17,903 a year earlier, which generated 58% of the division's total revenue, with a further 1,061 customers accrued between the end of January and the end of March.Utilitywise added that revenue in its Corporate division rose 35.5% to £6m after securing new medium-sized business customers, while total group secured revenue pipeline stood at £26m at the end of March.The group said it was "ideally positioned to capitalise" on its recent acquisitions and was confident of meeting its full-year targets after a positive start to the second half of the year.Following the results, the company announced it will raise its interim dividend 54.5% to to 1.7p per share.Meanwhile, Utilitywise has also completed the acquisition of t-mac Technologies, which provides business energy management systems to enable clients to monitor and reduce their utility consumption, in a deal worth up to £22bn.The group will pay an initial £10m, £6.25m of which in cash and the remainder by issuing of 1.8m shares at 210.4p per share, before paying up to a further £12m, £8.4m of which in cash, once earn out accounts have been finalised.This acquisition continues to expand our broad range of services that address the breadth of our customers' energy needs," said group chief executive Geoff Thompson.Utilitywise shares were up 5.77% to 220.00p at 11:35 on Tuesday.