27 January 2012 – interim management statement
The share price has fallen on news of the company’s expectation for Headline profit before interest and taxation for the full year being lowered to be slightly below that of the previous year. The anticipated reduction is attributed to a shortfall in fourth quarter new business, the costs associated with staffing-up to service the expected increase in revenue, client projects being delayed until the new financial year and operating losses associated with the start-up ventures in the year.
The news is not all bad and for the three months to 31 December 2011 revenue growth was over 22%. Like-for-like1 revenue growth for the third quarter was 7% and in the year to date, like-for-like revenue growth of 5% has been achieved. Today’s announcement is disappointing but the news has had a significant impact on the share price, meaning that the shares are now a SPECULATIVE BUY.