The focus on technology-based clients has clearly differentiated Next Fifteen from its peers as the public relations specialist registered an impressive 11 per cent increase in underlying revenues in the year to July.
Revenue from technology-based clients such as Facebook and Microsoft represents 69 per cent of revenues, having grown a further 9 per cent in the year to £59.3m. Chief executive Tim Dyson says that working with clients in this space has resulted in the group having a strong digital offering, which they are working on leveraging for non-technology clients.
So, while the group continued to win new clients in the technology arena, non-technology clients like GE and Disney Consumer Products, have also been secured. This helped boost revenues in the consumer PR division by 12 per cent to £16.1m and the unit now accounts for 19 per cent of group turnover. Mr Dyson is aiming to grow this segment to around 40 per cent of the business by 2013.
Mr Dyson says that he is not seeing any signs of a slowdown, and adds that the pipeline is "extremely strong across all regions", so analysts forecast a 9 per cent rise in current year adjusted EPS to 9.5p.
NEXT FIFTEEN COMMUNICATIONS (NFC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 79p | MARKET VALUE: | £44.5m | |
| TOUCH: | 77-80p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 85p | LOW:67p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.6% | PE RATIO: | 9 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 51p* | NET DEBT: | 5% | |
| Year to 31 Jul | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 59.3 | 5.10 | 6.3 | 1.50 |
| 2008 | 63.1 | 5.50 | 7.1 | 1.70 |
| 2009 | 65.4 | 3.16 | 3.7 | 1.70 |
| 2010 | 72.3 | 5.30 | 6.8 | 1.85 |
| 2011 | 86.0 | 7.53 | 9.1 | 2.05 |
| % change | +19 | +42 | +35 | +11 |
Ex-div: 4 Jan Payment: 3 Feb *Includes intangible assets of £37.9m, or 67p per share | ||||
