25 February 2020 – final results and legal claim
Final results for the year ended 30 November 2019 revealed revenue of £68.5m versus £71.2m a year earlier. Underlying profit fell from £2.9m to £2.5m and profit before tax fell from £2.1m to £1.6m. Underlying diluted earnings per share were 13.9p (2018: 12.6p) and net cash at the period end was £3.6m, down from £8.1m a year earlier. The final dividend was maintained at 3.5p. The year end order book was £32.7m, significantly better than £21.0m a year earlier. The company has also announced that it has reached agreement on an employment related legal claim in the US. As a result of this Synectics made a provision of £908k in respect of the claim, including legal costs, as a non-underlying item in its audited final results for the year ended 30 November 2019. The shares do not look expensive but we retain our HOLD holding for now.