1 October 2013 – final results
Although in the year to 2 August the group has reported a 3% decline in underlying revenue to £317m, underlying pre-tax profits have increased by almost 11% to 326.8m. Earnings per share on the same basis were 8.5% higher at 16.93p and the total dividend was raised by 13% to 6.5p per share. Despite spending £22.3m on acquisitions during the year, net debt at the year end was £15.2m (2012: debt of £13.4m). These results show the benefit from moving away from commoditised print markets into higher margin marketing services and this process continues with the disposal of St Ives Bradford, a direct mail and printing business, yesterday. Although the shares have done well over recent months they remain attractive. BUY.