Shares in dotDigital (DOTD) rose as much as 12 per cent after the company revealed strengthening full-year revenues, together with a 26 per cent uplift in cash profits – and a sizable dividend hike to boot. The improved financials reflect the increased volume of messages sent out via the group’s flagship 'dotmailer' platform, up 38 per cent to a whopping 11.9bn.
The email marketing group’s top line looks well diversified, with 23 per cent of revenue derived from overseas – a significant increase from the 2016 year-end. Regionally, Asia Pacific was the star performer (up 112 per cent), thanks partly to a new direct sales team working to reduce sales cycles for new customers. North America saw a 16 per cent improvement, while in Europe, management is focusing on developing the Nordics and Benelux businesses.
550 new clients signed up during the year, including gambling brand BetFred, news company CNBC and clothes retailer Jack Wills, among others. Encouragingly, the average revenue per user climbed 24 per cent to £715. That said, management says they are open to growing acquisitively as well as organically.
Analysts at house broker N+1 Singer forecast adjusted pre-tax profits of £9.8m and EPS of 2.8p for the year ending June 2018, up from £8.1m and 2.4p in 2017.
| DOTDIGITAL (DOTD) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 81p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 238m | |
| TOUCH: | 80-81p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 82p | LOW: 49p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.7% | PE RATIO: | 33 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 9.7p | NET CASH: | £20.4m | |
| Year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2013 | 12.2 | 4.0 | 1.4 | 0.10 |
| 2014 | 16.2 | 3.6 | 1.2 | 0.20 |
| 2015 | 21.4 | 5.2 | 1.6 | 0.36 |
| 2016 | 26.9 | 6.2 | 1.8 | 0.43 |
| 2017 | 32.0 | 8.1 | 2.4 | 0.55 |
| % change | +19 | +30 | +32 | +28 |
| Ex-div: | 11 Jan | |||
| Payment: | 31 Jan |
