Morse posts interim six-month results ending December '05
Morse plc (Morse or the Group), the consulting, technology and support company, announces its interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2005.
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Financial highlights
- Group turnover of £187.5 million (2004: £194.4 million excluding discontinued operations)
- Services up 18%
- 52% (2004: 43%) of turnover and 64% (2004: 57%) of gross profit now generated from services
- Operating profit before exceptional items up 23% at £4.1 million (2004: £3.3 million excluding discontinued operations)
- Exceptional net credit of £1.6 million
- Profit before tax up 61% at £6.1 million (2004: £3.8 million excluding discontinued operations)
- Earnings per share before exceptional items up 27% at 1.9p (2004: 1.5p)
- Net cash balance at half year end of £20.2 million (£36.3 million at 30 June 2005)
- Interim dividend of 1.20p (2004: 1.15p)
Following the disposal of our French business in July 2005, the performance figures in this commentary relating to the six months ended 31 December 2004 for our European business and the Group as a whole have been adjusted for the purpose of easier comparison. For the half year ended 31 December 2004, France contributed £22.2 million of Group turnover and an operating loss of £0.2 million.
Business highlights
- Substantial progress in the Group's transition into a consulting, technology and support company
- Strong growth in business consulting revenues
- £2.8 million sales from own software (2004: £1.6 million
- Continued good performance in Spain and Ireland but disappointing performance in Germany
- Positive progress with both mobileATM and Wisdom
Commenting on the results, Richard Lapthorne, Chairman, said:
"We have made good progress in the first half and have continued with the successful transition of the Group away from pure reselling towards the provision of services in consultancy, technology and support. Today, 52% of turnover (2004: 43%) and 64% (2004: 57%) of gross profit are generated from services. This compares to 44% and 55% respectively for the year ended 30 June 2005 and represents good progress towards our objective of growing the services side of the business and, over time, delivering 80% of gross margin from services.
While there is still work to be done in effecting this transition, we now have a very strong services business with an international reach and strong, profitable growth potential. In addition, we see exciting opportunities to further develop our own software offerings in the form of Wisdom and mobileATM."
Duncan McIntyre, Chief Executive, added:
"The substantial growth in services revenue and in operating profit for the Group are pleasing achievements for the half. We also continue to enhance the quality of our future revenue streams as we increase the proportion of revenues achieved from services. Looking forward, we are on track to address the opportunities we see in the market and we expect to deliver increasing returns. We are confident of continued progress in the second half."Download the document now 85 kb (Adobe Acrobat Document)