20 July 2011 – final results
A solid set of figures has been released, covering the year to 30 April 2011. Although revenue was up just 2% to £135.0m (2010: £131.9m) adjusted profit before tax was up 6% to £6.7m (2010: £6.4m), translating into adjusted diluted earnings per share of 38.5p (2010: 35.4p). This puts the shares on a multiple of under 5.5 times earnings, which looks too low.
Net debt at the year end was £14.9m (2010: £11.1m) due to the timing of Easter and was over £2m lower year-on-year by end of May 2011. Net assets were up £4.5m to £46.3m, representing 350p per share and a maiden dividend of 2.25p per ordinary share was declared. We remain fans and rate the shares as a BUY.