Shares in Wilmington PLC fell on Monday after the company reported a drop in statutory profit, weighed down by acquisition-related costs, despite double-digit revenue growth.
Shares in Wilmington were down 11% at 329.00 pence in London on Monday morning.
The Birmingham-based provider of information and training for governance and risk & compliance said revenue from continuing operations rose 16% to £44.9 million in the six months ended December 31, compared with £38.7 million a year prior. Including discontinued operations, statutory revenue increased 6% to £46.6 million from £43.9 million.
Pretax profit fell to £5.2 million from £8.1 million, weighed down by £4.8 million in adjusting items.
These included £3.3 million in acquisition-related costs, such as earnouts and transaction fees, stemming from the October 2024 purchase of Phoenix Health & Safety Consultancy UK Ltd for an initial £30.3 million.
Additionally, the company incurred £1.4 million in lease termination expenses related to business disposals.
Basic earnings per share were down 56% to 2.88 pence form 6.58p, while adjusted EPS were up 28% to 9.20p from 7.17p.
Excluding these one-off costs, Wilmington said ongoing adjusted pretax profit surged 39% to £11.4 million from £8.2 million.
Wilmington declared an interim dividend of 3.00p per share, unchanged from the prior year.
Chief Executive Mark Milner said: ‘We have delivered another strong financial performance, particularly profitability and earnings. Our margin also continued to improve.’
Wilmington ended the period with a net cash position of £31.3 million, down from £67.8 million in June, reflecting cash spent on acquisitions.
The company said trading for the full year remains in line with expectations.
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