Digital communications group Next Fifteen (NFC) made a strong start to the year, with underlying profit up 13 per cent in the first half, thanks entirely to bumper trading in the US - a trend chief executive Tim Dyson expects to continue. Sales from the US business, which represented 57 per cent of the group total, rose 17 per cent to £28m. Most of the growth was organic, with Outcast, M Booth, Blueshirt, Beyond and Text 100 - all niche agencies - experiencing double-digit increases.
The loss of some key clients sent UK sales down 5 per cent to £9.7m, but Mr Dyson expects the business to be "up overall" in the full year, thanks partly to the 51 per cent stake acquired in London-based Republic Publishing this January. The group made another acquisition just after the year-end too, snapping up market intelligence provider Continuous Insight. Further deals may come in the second half, but they're likely to be small to keep the balance sheet in order.
Further afield, trading was less stellar. Difficult market conditions left revenue in Europe, the Middle East and Africa down 10 per cent to £4.8m, while local currency weakness against the sterling caused a 6 per cent sales drop in the Asia Pacific region.
Canaccord Genuity has raised its pre-tax profit forecasts for the full year by 4 per cent to £10.1m, giving EPS of 9.4p.
| NEXT FIFTEEN COMMUNICATIONS (NFC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 110p | MARKET VALUE: | £67m | |
| TOUCH: | 109-111p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 115p | LOW: 72p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.4% | PE RATIO: | 64 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 61p* | NET DEBT: | 13% | |
| Half-year to 31 Jan | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 46.6 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.63 |
| 2014 | 49.3 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 0.70 |
| % change | +6 | +60 | +59 | +11 |
Ex-div: 16 Apr Payment: 16 May *Includes intangible assets of £42m, or 69p a share | ||||
