Results round-up: Utilitywise, Asos, Belvoir Lettings

Utility cost management consultancy Utilitywise reported a small jump in interim profit on Tuesday as revenue grew and the company lifted its dividend.

In the six months to the end of January 2017, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 4% to £9.4m, on revenue of £46.1m, up from £41.6m in the first half of last year.

Total group customers increased 17% to 40,855 and the company upped its interim dividend per share to 2.3p from 2.2p the year before.

Utilitywise said its Enterprise division performed particularly well, with the number of customers in the UK and Ireland up 13% to 31,978 and in Europe up 32% to 7,360. Revenue in the division grew 20% to £39.1m.

Chief executive officer Brendan Flattery said: "The group has continued its sustained progression in the period, whilst investing and preparing the Group for its next phase of growth. With an extensive portfolio of services in place and a focus on providing a great customer experience, Utilitywise has a strong platform for continued growth.

"There continues to be an increasing opportunity for us on both sides of the meter - from providing independent advice on tariffs and helping customers get a better deal on their energy procurement, to providing technology that helps them monitor and reduce energy consumption as well as ensuring compliance and saving money."

To further strengthen its commercial prospects, Utilitywise has decided to discontinue the practice of taking cash advances from suppliers, and to increase the transparency of the balance sheet through a number of prior period restatements and the non-cash impairment of its investment in t-Mac.

Although this will have a one-off impact on net debt, the company said the decision puts it in a stronger position to achieve its future growth ambitions.

Asos

Asos's wares flew off their hangers during the first half of its fiscal year amid a big acceleration in demand from overseas that saw the company raise its guidance for full-year retail sales growth, but margins slipped.

The online fashion firm's retail sales jumped by 38% to £889.2m over the six months ending on 28 February, while total revenues, which include delivery receipts and third party revenues rose 37% to £911.5m.

Retail gross margins on the other hand slipped by 40 basis points to 47%, although the company said that was anticipated, while total gross margins fell 60 basis points to 48.3%.

Analysts at RBC had penciled in a smaller 10 basis point fall in the company's total gross margins.

That meant that profits before tax on a per share basis only increased 15% to 26.3p, they were 14% higher on an absolute basis to £27.3m.

Nevertheless, the amount of cash and cash equivalents in the company's coffers continued to pile up, rising 14% to £154.3m.

London-listed Asos´s UK retail sales grew 18% to reach £340.8m, with the firm describing growth as "solid".

International retail sales meanwhile shot ahead by 54% to hit £548.4m and were up by 42% on a constant currency basis.

On a constant currency basis, total retail sales were ahead by 31%.

The number of what Asos labels 'active customers' also increased, growing by 29%.

"Overall this is a very strong top-line performance for Asos, particularly when compared with Next’s recent online growth and outlook comments, however once again it shows how difficult it is to achieve both sales and margin higher than consensus expectations," said analysts at RBC.

Belvoir Lettings

Belvoir Lettings' shares fell about 2.5% as it flagged uncertainty in the property sector alongside a rise in full-year pre-tax profit and a steady total dividend.

Chief executive Mike Goddard noted a background of uncertainty within the sector due to Brexit and regulatory changes in the buy-to-let market.

He said against this backdrop Belvoir had seen further growth in its networks from organic growth, local franchisee-led portfolio acquisitions and new franchise owners.

"These have all contributed to broadening the base from which the Group can continue to develop and grow underpinned by highly professional franchisees and sound business ethics," said Goddard.

In 2017, the board would be looking to take advantage of opportunities anticipated from uncertainty caused by the proposed changes to tenant fees.

It would further move to consolidate Belvoir's recent acquisitions to extract additional efficiencies, and leverage its large managed property portfolio to further increase shareholder value.

The company's pre-tax profit for the full-year was £2.4m, from £2.2m a year earlier. Revenue grew to £9.9m, from £6.9m.

It would pay an unchanged final dividend of 3.4p, leaving the total payment steady at 6.8p a share.