Acquisitions buoy sales at GlobalData

The information services provider made its largest ever purchase in April, buying Research Views Limited (RVL) for £97.3m – in turn gaining new exposure to the energy and financial services sectors, while extending its coverage within the healthcare, construction and consumer spaces. Management is confident of achieving £1m in annualised cost synergies over the next 12 months, although it's a rather ambitious target. GlobalData also bought MEED last December for $17.5m (£13.3m) – a premium business information content provider, focusing on infrastructure and projects in the Middle East.

Adding to the list of positives, GlobalData’s deferred revenues rose 40 per cent to £70.4m, bringing greater visibility. Meanwhile, adjusted cash profits rose 31 per cent to £14.6m: encouraging, although the associated margin was flat at 19.4 per cent, due to investments in group infrastructure and – again – foreign exchange movements, the vagaries of which, along with share-based payment charges and expenses tied to recent M&A activity, resulted in GlobalData swinging into a reported pre-tax loss. Indeed, the RVL deal lifted net debt from £43.1m in December, to £61.2m, resulting in higher finance costs.

Broker N+1 Singer expects adjusted pre-tax profits of £28.5m and EPS of 17.8p for 2018 (from £19m and 12.4p in 2017).