Restore sees FY ahead of expectations, buys two shredding businesses

AIM-listed Restore said full-year results were likely to be ahead of previous expectations as it as it announced the acquisition of two related secure shredding businesses based in Greenwich.

In the six months to the end of June, statutory pre-tax profit fell to £100,000 from £3.7m in the first half of 2016, even as revenue grew 57% to £86.9m. On an adjusted basis, pre-tax profit was up 59% to £15.3m and the company said it saw good organic growth across both of its divisions.

Meanwhile, the interim dividend was lifted by 26% to 1.67p per share.

Chief executive Charles Skinner said: "We continued to make good operational and financial progress in the first half. In particular we delivered strong organic growth across the Group and our shredding business, which was significantly enlarged by the major acquisition in 2016, performed better than expected.

"We will continue to pursue our strategy of organic and acquisitive growth and we are well positioned to gain further market share across all of our businesses."

The company said the second half has started well and it expects to deliver a full-year performance slightly ahead of its previous expectations.

Also on Monday, the office services provider said it has bought Lombard Recycling Limited and Data Shred Limited for an undisclosed sum.

Skinner said: "Lombard is the fifth secure shredding acquisition we have made since we acquired the Datashred business as part of our acquisition of PHS Data Solutions a year ago. It provides us with further economies of scale and extends our position as the UK's second largest provider of secure shredding services."

At 1120 BST, Restore shares were up 3% to 525.43p.