4 April 2019 – final results
Results for 2018 showed revenue up 24% at £98.5m (2017: £79.6m). Total annualised recurring revenue was up 32% to £75.3m (2017: £57.0m). Pre-exceptional EBITDA was up 28% to £51.6m (2017: £40.3m) and underlying profit before tax increased by 13% to £25.1m (2017: £22.2m). Exceptional items were £17.1m (2017: £2.0m) reflecting the reduced carrying value of meter assets, mainly in the traditional meter portfolio so statutory profit before tax decreased by 70% to £5.4m (2017: £18.0m). Underlying earnings per share were 18.46p (2017: 19.93p) and statutory earnings per share decreased to 3.97p (2017: 16.17p). A final dividend of 3.98p per share took the total to 5.98p for the full year (2017: 5.20p), an increase of 15%. Net debt at 31 December 2018 was £142.0m (2017: £36.5m). We keep our BUY rating although the exceptional items are a concern.