News blog
Driver Group
- BY: Andrew Hore |
- POSTED: 25/01/2010 |
Driver Group’s profits almost halved in the year to September 2009.
The construction dispute resolution and advisory services provider reported an improvement in revenues from £18.1m to £20.5m. Two arbitration cases were settled early which hit revenues. Underlying pre-tax profit fell from £2.08m to £1.11m. The bad debt charge increased from £100,000 to £300,000 and there were redundancy costs of £200,000.
Net debt was £164,000 at the end of September 2009. The debt facility is £3.78m. The final dividend was halved to 1p a share and the total for the year reduced from 2.95p a share to 2p a share.
The UK business generated lower revenues and its contribution was halved. In contrast, the Middle East made a stronger contribution. The growth came from Oman and Abu Dhabi, which offset the poor performance in Dubai. An office is planned for Qatar. Longer-term, there will also be growth in other international markets.
The business is being split into five divisions: Middle East, international, expert services, consultancy services (UK) and project services.
WH Ireland has slashed its 2009-10 profit forecast £500,000 because of additional investment in the business. The broker expects a profit recovery to £1.6m in 2010-11.
At 42.5p a share, Driver is valued at £11.2m. The shares are trading on a prospective 2010-11 multiple of eight.
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