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Employee services provider Personal Group posted a 2.3% rise in first-half profit, but lowered its dividend citing Covid-19 uncertainty.
Pre-tax profit for the six months through June increased to £4.2m, up from £4.1m on-year, as revenue rose 1.3% to £30.4m.
Dividends paid for the period were reduced to 7.40p per share, down from 11.65p, following a reduction in the second quarter.
Personal Group said it had made a 'solid' start to the year, with half-year trading ahead of management's expectations at the start of the pandemic.
'Our robust recurring revenue model across the group has enabled us to weather the initial storm of Covid-19 and resulted in continued growth, delivering a first half ahead of the same period in 2019,' chief executive Deborah Frost said.
'The pandemic will not be without consequences for us however, and we are working hard to minimise the impact of both a period with minimal new sales activity and the predicted post Covid-19 recession by widening our product offer, developing more channels to market, and ensuring that our policyholders are supported if they experience job changes or redundancy.'
'I am confident that we are in a strong position to deliver against these objectives and we have used the period of lockdown constructively to develop our business to deliver future stability.'
At 9:32am: (LON:PGH) Personal Group Holdings PLC share price was +13p at 262p