Results round-up

Final results from property refurbishment and office fit-out services group Styles & Wood show it lifted underlying profits 55% last year and now has a bulging order book as it enjoys various beneficial trends in 2016.

S&W said shortage of new office space and the drive for operational efficiency continues to create demand for refurbishment and fit-out work, while a corresponding acceleration in demand for high quality commercial space is forecast to prevail over the next five years.

Shifts in the supermarket sector for store design, as well as high-volume niche brands are also creating demand, while opportunities are also perceived in public sector work, especially in health and higher education.

In 2015, major contracts included the City Gate office refurbishment and structural reconfiguration for Hermes Real Estate and refurbishment of Aviva's Westminster House, both in Manchester, plus S&W was signed up by TSB in a £15m five-year deal and also was commissioned by another bank as part of its comprehensive ATM replacement programme.

Over 70% of the year's workload came from serial relationships with repeat customers.

All in all, revenue of £115m was up 19% on the previous year, with underlying profit before tax up 55% to £3.2m and profit before tax up 309% to £2.4m.

Underlying basic earnings per share up 47% to 37.2p.

Net debt ended the year down to £1.4m from £11.8m 12 months before thanks to strong cash generation and the £13m convertible preference shares sold last June.

Specialist business information group Electric Word reported a 75% increase in earnings in the full year following the disposal of a number of divisions.

The company, which specialises in the education and sports sectors, posted adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortisation for continuing and discontinued operations of £937,000, compared to £536,000 the previous year.

Revenue fell to £6.8m from £7.0m, as an EBITA loss of £717,000 in its education division offset an EBITA of £152,000 at the sports unit.

Electric Word said education is “facing significant market change with tight customer budgets and the rapid consolidation of local authority managed schools into Multiple Academy Trusts”.

During the full year period, the company disposed of Radcliffe Solutions Ltd in January, which provided IT services to the Health sector. In April the group sold Radcliffe Publishing, which produced books for medics and other health professionals.