Results round-up

IT infrastructure products and services provider Softcat reported strong revenue and profit growth for the 12 months to 31 July, in its full-year results on Wednesday, with revenue improving 12.8% to £672.4m.

The FTSE 250 firm saw gross profit rise 17.5% to £120.7m during the period, with a gross profit margin 0.8 percentage points higher at 18.0%.

Its gross profit included the benefit of a one-off procurement saving of £3.4m.

Adjusted operating profit was up 15.2% to £46.8m, and the company reported a cash conversion rate of 85.5%.

Softcat’s net cash position at year end stood at £62.4m.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share were up 15.8%, with customer numbers up 7.5% on the prior year and average headcount up 21%, which the board said was driven by record sales and service staff recruitment.

“We are pleased to report continued strong organic growth at Softcat with 12.8% revenue growth, 17.5% growth in gross profit and 15.2% growth in adjusted operating profit, achieved against a backdrop of very modest growth in the UK economy which has equally been reflected in the IT market,” said CEO Martin Hellawell.

“We have continued to win large numbers of new customers and earn increased spend from our existing customers.”

Hellawell said that had been achieved by the firm’s “relentless focus” on customer service.

“We were delighted to be named as the UK's No.1 Best Workplace by the Great Places to Work Institute in April 2016.

“Other recent notable highlights include entering the FTSE 250, the opening of our Glasgow branch, an incremental 133 people joining our organisation in the last financial year, and a plethora of industry awards including HP Enterprise Partner of the Year, Cisco UK&I Commercial Partner of the Year and Sophos UK&I Partner of the Year.”

AIM-listed luxury chocolatier Hotel Chocolat Group’s maiden revenue increased as it opened new stores and cafes and invested in improving production efficiency.

For the year ended 26 June, revenue increased 12% to £91.1m compared to the previous year, with digital revenue growing 20% ahead of a website relaunch in 2017.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 57% to £12.3m, while cost controls meant that operating margins improved with pre-exceptional EBITDA margin rose from 9.7% to 13.5%.

Pre-tax profit rose 91% to £5.6m, which excludes exceptional costs of £2.6m when it floated in May and bought out Hotel Chocolat Estates Limited in Saint Lucia.

During the year seven new Hotel Chocolate stores were opened, including in Regent Street and Tottenham Court Road in London, to take the total to 83 and a fifth shop-and-cafe format opened in Worcester, while closing three stores that had reached the end of their leases.

The company, which spent £4.7m on factory improvements and has further investments planned for summer 2017, is also refitting a shop and cafe in Copenhagen is expecting a franchise store to open soon in Gibraltar.

Angus Thirlwell, co-founder and chief executive, said: "Our results are strong, the Hotel Chocolat brand has continued to strengthen and we have made good progress with our three strategic priorities of investing further in our British chocolate manufacturing operations, growing our store estate and developing our digital offering."

"Our plans for the peak winter season are well set and I am confident that our Christmas ranges will be our best ever, as customers continue to appreciate our ‘more cocoa, less sugar’ approach throughout all our categories."