Marlowe revenue surges as it eyes further expansion

Support services group Marlowe announced its audited results for the year ended 31 March on Monday, with revenue up 72% to £80.6m, and current 12 month run-rate revenues approaching £100m.

The AIM-traded firm’s adjusted EBITDA rose 81% to £7.2m, with adjusted profit before tax ahead 74% to £5.8m.

Adjusted earnings per share were up 35% to 14.0p.

On the operational front, Marlowe completed nine acquisitions during the year with two further purchases post year-end, which the board said “significantly developed” the scale of the group's two operating divisions.

A new service sector was entered during the year through acquisition of Ductclean UK, with other service sectors said to be under review.

Further strong progress was made in implementing a cross-selling strategy across divisions, the Marlowe board reported.

Net debt stood at £2.9m, with “significant headroom” under debt facilities of £18.0m.

“In our second year of trading as Marlowe we are pleased to report another strong financial performance and a year of substantial progress in developing the scale and breadth of our platform for growth,” said chief executive officer Alex Dacre.

“During the year we have significantly expanded the scale of our fire and security, and water treatment activities, which have begun to benefit from their increased size, whilst broadening the group's capabilities through establishing a market leading position in the ventilation hygiene and contamination remediation sectors through the acquisition of DCUK.”

Dacre said the company’s pipeline of acquisition opportunities going into the new financial year was strong.

“The current year's trading has started in line with our expectations and we look forward to making further progress during the year.”