iomart (IOM) provides data hosting and cloud computing services to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the group delivered both organic and acquisition-led growth in the period. Indeed, it acquired three businesses for a total maximum consideration of £31.2m in September - they're generating cost synergies and are also helping iomart to further expand its product offering and increase capacity.
Group underlying half-year pre-tax profit jumped an impressive 29 per cent year-on-year to £6.3m and cash flow from operations soared 43 per cent to £9.2m. Data hosting was the group's star performer in the period - revenue there climbed 31 per cent year-on-year to £19.1m, with organic growth in the high teens and the rest coming from acquisitions. Hosting's cash profit rose by a third to £8.7m and the divisional profit margin improved to 46 per cent from 45 per cent. Progress at the Easyspace business - which offers email and domain names to SMEs - was rather more sedate, however. Revenue here grew 3 per cent to £5.5m, while cash profit rose marginally to £2.42m.
Broker finnCap expects adjusted full-year pre-tax profit of £13.8m, giving adjusted EPS of 10.8p (from £10.6m and 8.5p in 2013), rising to 18.1p in 2015.
IOMART (IOM) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 246p | MARKET VALUE: | £262m | |
| TOUCH: | 245-248p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 322p | LOW: 191p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.6% | PE RATIO: | 34 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 56p* | NET DEBT: | 39% | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 19.9 | 4.12 | 3.03 | nil |
| 2013 | 24.6 | 4.37 | 3.39 | nil |
| % change | +24 | +6 | +12 | - |
*Includes intangible assets of £66.4m, or 62p a share Ex-div: - Payment: - | ||||
