Communisis finishes year in line with expectations

Personalised customer communication services provider Communisis posted its unaudited trading update for the year to 31 December on Thursday, with the company saying trading for the year ended in line with expectations.

The London-listed firm announced a significant new contract win within its customer experience division in November with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, for all outbound customer communication.

It said implementation planning was well in-hand toward the go-live date in mid-2017.

The brand deployment division also won a new contract - with Sony Europe - for a range of customer communication services.

The arrangement went live on 1 October 2016 for a term of three years, with activities including management of the supply chain for marketing collateral and point-of-sale across Europe.

Communisis extended its presence in Germany during the year by opening in Berlin to complement existing operations in Frankfurt and Düsseldorf.

The board said strong free-cash flow helped reduce net debt by approximately £9m, to £30m.

In addition, the accounting deficit related to the defined benefit pension scheme reduced from £57m at 17 October to approximately £55m at the end of December.

“The 2016 performance was solid and the simplified dual-divisional structure helped us to focus successfully on the major growth opportunities,” said chief executive Andy Blundell.

“Long term contract wins such as HMRC and Sony Europe will help deliver against our targets for 2017 and beyond.”

The group said it will issue preliminary results for the year to 31 December on 9 March.