Recruiter Impellam, formed from the merger of Corporate Services Group and Carlisle Group in May 2008, is making progress. Most notably, a £20m legacy debt was repaid last May leaving the group debt free. That follows several years of restructuring, which included ditching the chief executive's role altogether in 2009 - in favour of "a more streamlined" management structure, led by group chair, Cheryl Jones.
Trading looks good, too. The group operating margin increased 2.3 percentage points in 2011 to 19.1 per cent and the commercial UK staffing unit - Impellam's biggest division - saw revenue rise 5 per cent to £496m, with cash profits there up 25 per cent to £22.5m. The UK professional & technical unit grew turnover 15 per cent as well, to £193m, and boosted cash profit by £3.5m to £8m. Although the healthcare business saw revenues and profits slip as demand fell in the UK doctors' staffing business. And Carlisle Support Services, which is reducing dependence on the retail sector, saw revenues fall 16 per cent, with cash profits there down £0.4m to £2.3m.
Broker Cenkos Securities has kept forecast unchanged and expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £39.5m for 2012, giving EPS of 67.1p (2011: £36.8m/62.7p).
IMPELLAM (IPEL) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 313p | MARKET VALUE: | £140m | |
| TOUCH: | 305-320p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 400p | LOW: 220p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | 6 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 289p* | NET CASH: | £1.8m | |
| Year to end-Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007† | 0.96 | -10.0 | -25.5 | nil |
| 2008† | 1.07 | -8.00 | -25.5 | nil |
| 2009 | 1.04 | 5.90 | 23.9 | nil |
| 2010 | 1.11 | 26.8 | 46.7 | nil |
| 2011 | 1.13 | 32.9 | 54.0 | nil |
| % change | +2 | +23 | +16 | - |
Ex-div:- Payment:- "*Includes intangible assets of £108m, or 242p per share †Pro-froma figures - reflecting May 2008's merger of the Carlisle Group and the Corporate Services Group | ||||
