Tough trading conditions in Australia and a slow first quarter in North America pushed RPS's (RPS) constant currency fee income down 3 per cent during the first-half.
With around 70 per cent of fees derived from the public sector, Australia Asia Pacific (AAP) suffered from a lull in Australian public infrastructure spending amidst two state elections. Together with a federal election slowing the release of major defence projects, underlying operating profit for that segment plummeted by almost two-thirds on a constant currency basis to just £2.1m. Management hopes more property sector friendly government policies and a recent interest rate cut could boost private sector work.
Despite fee growth in Ireland, the adverse impact of political uncertainty on higher margin business units in the UK pushed underlying operating profit in consulting down by 12 per cent to £7.1m. UK services are being hindered as the current regulatory cycle for water comes to an end but an uptick in growth is expected once AMP7 commences.
Numis anticipates adjusted pre-tax profit of £36.1m and EPS of 11.8p for the full year, rising to £40.8m and 13.4p in 2020.
| RPS (RPS) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 139p | MARKET VALUE: | £ 314m | |
| TOUCH: | 138-139p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 255p | LOW: 93p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 5.4% | PE RATIO: | 14 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 166p* | NET DEBT: | 27% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2018 | 321 | 22.6 | 7.4 | 4.80 |
| 2019 | 310 | 13.1 | 4.4 | 2.42 |
| % change | -4 | -42 | -40 | -50 |
| Ex-div: | 12 Sep | |||
| Payment: | 11 Oct | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of £399m or 176p a share | ||||
