Restore posts impressive rise in first-half earnings

The AIM-traded firm said its EBITDA improved 37% year-on-year to £12.3m, with operating profit growing 36% to £10.5m.

Profit before tax was up 35% to £9.6m, with earnings per share rising 16% to 7.9p.

Restore’s board declared an interim dividend of 1.33p per share, up 33%, and confirmed net debt had narrowed to £29.3m from £30.4m.

On a statutory basis, the company’s operating profit rose to £4.5m from £3.5m, with profit before tax up to £3.7m from £2.9m and basic earnings per share at 3.8p, from 2.9p.

“We continued to make good operational and financial progress in the first half, in particular in integrating the Wincanton Records Management business acquired at the end of 2015 and in delivering an improved performance in document scanning,” said Restore chief executive Charles Skinner.

“Following the end of the period, we announced the acquisition of PHS Data Solutions, which transforms our sub-scale document shredding activities to make Restore the second largest operator in an attractive market and additionally provides scope to realise synergies in records management and document scanning.!

Skinner said together, the addition of the Wincanton and PHS businesses have “significantly enhanced” the company’s platform for growth.

“The second half of the year has started well and we remain confident of making progress in the remainder of 2016 to deliver a full year performance in line with current market expectations.”