Waterman full-year profit rises, dividend lifted

Engineering and environmental consultancy Waterman reported a jump in full-year profit as revenue grew and the company lifted its dividend.

For the year to the end of June, pre-tax profit rose to £3.6m from £2.4m on revenue of £91.3m, up 9%.

UK revenue was up 9% to £81.4m, while international revenue was 5% higher than the previous year at £9.9m.

Meanwhile, return on capital employed jumped to 46.5% from 30.3% and Waterman proposed a total dividend per share of 3p, up 50% from the year before.

Chief executive Nick Taylor said: “Our future aspiration remains to improve the group’s adjusted operating profit margin towards 6% over the next three years and to continue to increase our dividend payout consistent with the cash generative nature of the business.”

The company said that in the three months since the European referendum, it has continued to experience good levels of enquiries and new commissions. It said it had not noticed any significant change in trading activity.

“We await clarity on the government’s future plans including for infrastructure investment which will have a bearing on our medium term prospects.”

At 1500 BST, Waterman shares were down 1.8% to 85.89p.