St Ives shares up as it swings to statutory loss

International marketing services company St Ives posted its preliminary results for the year to 29 July on Tuesday, with revenue rising 7% to £367.5m.

The London-listed firm’s adjusted profit before tax was down 8% to £30.4m, with adjusted basic earnings per share slipping 13% to 17.61p.

On a statutory basis, St Ives’ loss before tax was £5.7m, swinging from an £8.7m profit a year earlier, with basic losses per share of 5.93p compared to earnings of 4.35p in the 2015 financial year.

The company’s net debt widened to £80.8m, from £62.8m, over the year, but the board still declared a dividend in line with the prior year at 7.8p.

“We are pleased to confirm that, after some short-term challenges in the final quarter of the financial year, trading across our Strategic Marketing segment has stabilised,” said St Ives chief executive Matt Armitage.

“We are excited by the opportunities that the breadth of our marketing services capabilities creates and we are making encouraging progress in bringing in new projects from both existing and new clients.”

Armitage said the company sees “significant opportunities” to push ahead with the board’s strategic priorities in the year ahead, particular in further organic growth in its Strategic Marketing segment.

“Whilst we remain alert to the possible impact from Brexit on business confidence, we will continue to invest in the UK, the US and Asia to support our medium term growth plans.

“Assuming no marked change to the current market conditions, we are well positioned to make further progress this year.”

At 0939 BST, shares in St Ives were up 7.48% at 147.25p.