Turnover and earnings on the rise at Redde

Mobility, incident management solutions and legal services provider Redde issued its full-year results for the 12 months ended 30 June on Thursday, reporting an 11.6% improvement in turnover to £527.0m.

The AIM-traded firm said adjusted EBIT rose 16% to £46.2m, while adjusted profit before tax was 16% higher at £46.0m.

Its statutory profit before tax was £38.8m, up 22,2% year-on-year.

The company said its net operating cash inflow-to-EBITDA ratio for the year was 72%, compared to 91% in 2017.

Debtor days stood at 105, up from 91 days, which the board put down to increased sales and insurer mix, while its lease financing debt reduced to £39.2m from £46.0m.

Total cash balances were £30.7m at year-end, down from £36.3m, while net debt married to £8.5m from £9.7m.

Adjusted basic earnings per share rose 17.8% to 13.27p, while statutory basic earnings per share were 27.2% higher at 11.36p..

The board recommended a 9.8% rise in the final dividend for 2018 to 6.15p, taking total dividends for year to 11.65p - an increase of 9.9%.

On the operational front, Redde reported a 19.3% growth in credit hire cases, while the total number of hire days increased by 23.6%.

It also reported a 3.4% increase in the number of repair cases.

At period end, its fleet increased 16.4% to 9,741, which the board said was to meet increasing demand.

That increased demand also saw its revenue-generating fleet utilisation rise to 82.9% from 81.5%.

“This has been another year of significant growth delivering increased earnings per share,” said chief executive officer Martin Ward.

“The proposed payment of the group's 14th consecutive dividend, together with dividends paid since June 2013, now amount to £140.3m.

“The group continues to generate quality, sustainable earnings by serving a large and growing number of businesses and fulfilling hundreds of thousands of physical transactions each year to businesses and consumers.”

Ward said that, in support of that activity, the group had invested in further digital development, upgraded IT systems and, to meet future demands, a larger contact centre in Huddersfield.

“Under our GPSii strategy, the group has developed on many fronts and possesses several core capabilities which expand the options for further growth.

“The group continues to seek acquisition opportunities that meet the group's stringent investment criteria,” Ward added.