19 April 2016 – final results
Results for the year ended 31 December 2015 have been released. Some exceptional items make comparison slightly tricky but revenue for the year was £34.4m versus £31.3m a year earlier, an increase of 9.8%. Excluding the acquisition of ESC revenue increased by 4.7%. Diluted earnings per share were 20.27p compared to 34.09p per share in the previous year. On a positive note the pension scheme deficits were reduced. However, there is still some uncertainty over import duties which have potentially been underpaid by acquired businesses. A final dividend of 2.5p per share (2014: 2.4p) takes the total for the year to 3.75p (2014: 3.6p), translating into a yield of 3.1%. On the whole the shares look too low given that they are trading on under 6 times historic earnings and significant growth in earnings is likely. BUY.