4 October 2016 – final results

Results for the 53 weeks ended 30 July 2016 have been released.  Gross sales were up 14.5% to £334.7m (2015: £292.2m) and revenue was up 14.7% to £317.3m (2015: £276.7m).  Like for like order intake was up 14.8% (2015: 5.0%).  Earnings per share were 21.8p versus adjusted earnings per share of 13.8p a year earlier.  A final dividend of 9.83p per share takes the full year dividend to 14.5p per share (2015: 14.0p), an increase of 3.6%.  The company has a strong balance sheet with cash of £22.4m (2015: £21.1m) and no debt.  The sector faces some difficulties but ScS is an interesting niche player and taking the level of cash into account the shares are certainly not expensive.  We retain our BUY rating.