3 September 2013 – interim results
A solid set of figures has been released, covering the six months ended 30 June 2013. Although revenue slipped by £1m to £96.1m, adjusted profit before tax was up over 50% at £5.5m (2012: £3.6m). This translated into adjusted earnings per share of 1.5p versus 1.2p a year earlier. Net debt was down to £53.6m (2012: £57.5m) and the disposal of the FM division, completed in August, slashed this by more than a half. The disposal also represented a key move in the strategy to refocus on Textile Services. With the interim dividend lifted to 0.40p (2012: 0.36p) we keep our BUY recommendation although there may be better opportunities for short term gains elsewhere.