Mission Marketing hikes interim dividend after acquisition boost

Mission Marketing, the marketing communications and advertising group, announces a rise in earnings after further acquisitions in the first half.

The company’s acquisitions from the previous period, Chapter and Echo have been trading well and have strengthened the firm’s global capabilities according to the board.

The group’s revenue and headline profits were both up 10% at £32.4m and £2.6m respectively. Reported profit before tax was up 14% at £2m, with headline diluted earnings per share up 15% to 2.33p.

Reflecting on the firm’s performance the board has decided to raise the interim dividend by 67% to 0.5p.

On top of new business wins during the period that included Fuji Xerox, Golden Wonder, Greene King, Halfords, Mondelez, O2 and Sky Betting & Gaming, the firm also bolstered its businesses with further development of its Pathfindr and Ethology products into Rolls Royce and Aviva.

Cash inflows from operating activities rose more than doubled to £4.8m, with some of this used for payments of £3m for previous acquisitions and cutting net bank debt by £1.5m to £9.4m.

Chairman David Morgan said: "The first half of 2016 went very well for us as we continue to build on our profitable platform. We look forward to a positive second half and remain confident in the outturn for the full year, continuing the consistent growth achieved over recent years."

In terms of the recent referendum result, Morgan said clients did not seem to have “Brexit blues”, but were maintaining investment, which has given him confidence that the firm’s agencies "will continue to grow alongside them through the remainder of the year".

The firm plans to continue to look for acquisitions that will add value to the company’s client offering.

The share price went up by 8.25% to 39.51p at 0905 BST on Thursday.