Digital nous and specialising in data-driven marketing has helped Next Fifteen Communications (NFC) win work with US technology titans such as Google and Amazon, so it's little wonder that management focused its efforts on the North American market in the reported period. Organic sales climbed 17 per cent there, and 13 per cent across the business. Exclude acquisition costs and other one-off expenses and operating profits leapt 53 per cent to £11.1m.
Next Fifteen signed new clients such as Softbank Robotics, Tesco and Johnson & Johnson. Its Outcast, Beyond, Bite and M Booth agencies shone in North America, while strong showings from Morar and Encore boosted profits in the UK. And previous restructuring efforts improved revenues and profitability in its other territories.
The weak link was Story Worldwide, which posted a loss and has struggled since its acquisition two years ago. That didn't deter management from announcing the purchase of Pinnacle, a specialist technical content and digital marketing outfit which complements its recent Publitek acquisition. Broker Investec bumped up its forecasts and now expects adjusted pre-tax profits of £23.2m for the year to January 2017, giving EPS of 21.4p, up from £16.1m and 16.9p in FY2016.
| NEXT FIFTEEN COMMUNICATIONS (NFC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 347p | MARKET VALUE: | £251m | |
| TOUCH: | 347-355p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 365p | LOW: 180p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.3% | PE RATIO: | 64 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 81p* | NET DEBT: | 20% | |
| Half-year to 31 Jul | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 61.8 | 4.23 | 4.3 | 1.2 |
| 2016 | 80.5 | 4.16 | 3.7 | 1.5 |
| % change | +30 | -2 | -14 | +25 |
Ex-div: 27 Oct Payment: 25 Nov *Includes intangible assets of £73.6m, or 102p a share | ||||
