Morson Announce 2010 Interim Results
21 September 2010
Morson (AIM: MRN) the UK's leading provider of technical contracting personnel to the Aerospace and Defence, Nuclear and Power, Rail and other Technical industries, is pleased to announce its Interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2010.
Highlights
- Solid trading performance across all sectors in line with directors' expectations:
- Revenue up 0.9% to £221.8m (H1 2009: £219.9m);
- Net fee income (Gross Profit) down 7.7% to £16.7m (H1 2009: £18.1m);
- Profit from operations down 0.6% to £5.4m (H1 2009: £5.5m);
- Profit before taxation up 7.7% to £5.3m (H1 2009: £4.9m);
- Adjusted profit before taxation* down 22% to £4.2m (H1 2009: £5.4m);
- Basic eps of 8.33 pence (H1 2009: 7.48 pence); and
- Adjusted EPS† of 7.05 pence (H1 2009 : 8.70 pence).
- Net debt has increased during the period to £18.8m, up £7.8m from £11.0m at 31 December 2009, largely due to the acquisition of Wynnwith.
- Key new or extended contract wins including Chubb, Costain, Ericsson and Bombardier
- Acquisitions of Wynnwith (June 2010) and Acetech (July 2010) with integration progressing well.
- Overseas recruitment operations commenced in Brazil and Germany.
- Market conditions remain challenging but with positive longer term prospects.
- Interim dividend maintained at 2.0 pence per share (H1 2009: 2.0 pence per share).
† adjusted EPS is net profit attributable to equity holders adjusted for exceptional items, amortisation of intangible fixed assets and fair value movement on the derivative financial instrument values as detailed in note 5.
Gerry Mason, Non Executive Chairman, said:
"The Group has historically remained resilient in difficult economic cycles and, whilst we have been affected by the scale of the current UK economic recession, we have performed well.
"The move into our new headquarters bringing together Morson International and Morson Projects gives the business an added impetus, increasing opportunities for cross selling our services and providing a modern and efficient environment conducive to taking the group forward in the coming years. We will continue to build on our experience and capability and plan intelligently to progress our longer term prospects and develop future opportunities, including consideration of appropriate acquisitions. Whilst we expect market conditions to remain challenging into 2011, we firmly believe that the prospects for the group and its long term future growth are encouraging."
