The Panoply declares dividend after bumper year of trading

Technology services group the Panoply reported a 62% improvement in revenue in its preliminary results on Monday, to £51.1m, with organic like-for-like revenue growth coming in at 19%.

The AIM-traded firm swung to statutory EBITDA earnings of £1.8m for the year ended 31 March, from a loss of £0.6m in the 2020 financial year.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 87% to £7.1m, with organic like-for-like adjusted EBITDA growth being reported at 31%.

Its statutory Loss after tax narrowed to £2.2m from £3m year-on-year, while its adjusted profit after tax grew to £5.0m from £2.7m.

Losses per share came in at 3.5p, compared to 6.3p a year earlier, while adjusted diluted earnings per share grew to 6.1p from 3.6p.

Cash conversion was 106% for the year, and cash at bank at period end stood at £5.7m.

The Panoply reported a sales backlog as at 1 April of £39m, compared to £15m at the beginning of the 2021 financial year.

Itrs board announced a final dividend of 0.4p per share, compared to the nil distribution at the end of 2020, and following a maiden interim dividend of 0.2p per share in January.

“We have had an excellent year, under extraordinary circumstances,” said chief executive officer Neal Gandhi, adding that highlights included adding three businesses to the group, delivering 19% organic revenue growth, “very strong” cash conversion, and making “substantial progress” against its environmental, social and governance targets.

“Our trading momentum has accelerated further into the current year, and we are delighted to have signed approximately £18.6m in new contracts in the first quarter of the 2022 financial year.

“This is a record quarter for the group and this performance, together with the existing sales backlog we had built in 2021, means we now expect revenue and EBITDA for 2022 to be significantly ahead of current market expectations and to deliver analysts' expectations for 2023 a full year early.”

Over the period, Gandhi said the company had experienced the benefit of brand amalgamation, with management “excited” to embark on the next step, by bringing the group together under a single brand.

“In line with our 2025 vision, we believe this will support enhanced growth and cement our position as one of the very best digital transformation suppliers to the public sector.”

At 0943 BST, shares in the Panoply Holdings were up 2.65% at 290p.