An organisation-wide overhaul at Impellam Group (IPEL) seems to have had the desired effect. The recruiter, which operates the Blue Arrow and Tate brands, had reorganised its business into two divisions, managed services and specialist staffing - an approach tha management says is now "reaping rewards". With managed services revenue from the US flat after currency moves, the UK drove the top line, with turnover up 85 per cent at £462m, providing operating profit of £11.6m.
Lorien, acquired last year and sitting within managed services, grew its standalone, like-for-like revenue by 17.2 per cent. Career Teachers, acquired last March and now sitting within specialist staffing, grew turnover by the same proportion. Now the company has announced a further acqusition: Global Group, a specialist doctors locum business operating in Ireland, Australasia, Canada and the UK, which chief executive Julia Robertson says is "highly complementary" to its Medacs business and will help improve its footprint in healthcare outside of these shores. Impellam paid £17.3m for Global Group and assumed debt of £7.1m.
Its Carlisle Support Services group continued to weigh on performance, though, with revenues down 45 per cent to £17.9m leading to an operating loss of £0.9m. But management is confident in its pipeline of contracts.
| IMPELLAM (IPEL) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 788p | MARKET VALUE: | £388m | |
| TOUCH: | 775-800p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 845p | LOW: 460p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.9% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 351p* | NET DEBT: | 23% | |
| Half-year to 3 Jul | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 612 | 14.0 | 28.0 | 6.25 |
| 2015 | 832 | 18.1 | 29.7 | 7.0 |
| % change | +36 | +29 | +6 | +12 |
Ex-div:15 Oct Payment:27 Nov *Includes intangible assets of £166m or 338p a share | ||||
