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Employee services provider Personal posted a 3% rise in annual profit and said although it expected a Covid-19 hit in 2020 it still expected to remain profitable.
Pre-tax profit for the year through December 2019 increased to £10.5m, up from £10.2m on-year. Revenue rose 28% to £70.9m.
The company said it had paid dividends for the period of 23.3p per share, up 1.3% on-year.
However, it said its second-quarter dividend for 2020 would be cut to 1.5p per share due to uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 crisis.
'This shortfall and the remaining 2020 dividends will be revisited later in the year once the situation is clearer,' it added.
Personal said it had also furloughed around 22% of its employees in a bid to conserve cash.
'It is clearly too early to accurately assess the final impact of the outbreak on our customers and our business,' chief executive Deborah Frost said.
'Whilst we expect that the ongoing impacts of the virus could have a material impact on EBITDA for 2020, and into 2021, we remain confident that the business will be profitable with a strong balance sheet and no debt.'
'In addition, we have significant headroom and are taking actions to protect the business.'
'Turning our attention to the next six-12 months, we are confident that our key messages around connecting and protecting workers, both employed and contingent, continue to resonate strongly.'
At 8:56am: (LON:PGH) Personal Group Holdings PLC share price was 0p at 271p