Judges Scientific remains profitable after fall in revenue

The AIM-traded firm said that despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, it still generated “significant” profits in every month of the year ended 31 December, although adjusted operating profit was down 17% at £14.4m.

Adjusted basic earnings per share were 20% lower than in 2019, at 177.2p.

On a statutory basis, Judges said operating profit fell to £10.2m from £14.1m, while statutory basic earnings per share slid to 131.1p from 183.1p.

The board proposed a final dividend of 38.5p, making for total distributions of 55p for the year, up 10% over 2019 and covered 3.2x by adjusted earnings.

Judges Scientific said its organic order intake was down 13.2% over 2019, while its organic order book stood at 14 weeks at year-end, up from 13.2 weeks at the end of 2019, with its total order book being 15.8 weeks.

Cash generated from operations was down to £14.6m from £19.1m, while adjusted net debt widened to £5.7m at year-end, from £2m a year earlier.

Statutory net debt was £5.7m, compared to £0.3m 12 months prior.

Cash balances stood at £15.5m as at 31 December, up from £14.1m at the beginning of 2020.

“It was unfortunate that the pandemic interrupted the momentum of our financial progress but I am proud that our businesses took swift, proactive and bespoke action to optimise their performance through this difficult year,” said chairman Alex Hambro.

“The group's resilience has enabled it to continue executing its business model with the completion of two acquisitions, and to recommend an increased final dividend for the year.”

At 1428 GMT, shares in Judges Scientific were up 2.26% at 6,340p.