IWG full-year profit and revenue up, lifts dividend 13%

Workplace-as-a-service company IWG, formerly Regus, reported a rise in full-year profit and revenue, as it bumped up its dividend by 13%.

In the year to 31 December, underlying profit before tax rose to £174.7m from £130.4m in 2015, on revenue of £2.2bn, up from £1.9bn.

Full-year underlying operating profit grew to £186.2m from £144.8m and the cash performance was strong, with cash flow before net growth capex and dividends up 33% to £286.1m.

Underlying earnings per share were up 34% to 15p and the company declared a dividend of 5.1p, up 13% on the year.

Chief executive Mark Dixon said "Overall, our focus during 2016 - particularly in the first quarter - was on standardising our business to make it more easily scalable during 2017 and the years ahead. As such, 2016 was a transformative year that I am confident will underpin strong progress from the first half of 2017.

"I am pleased with the progress we have made in the last year, and am confident that during 2017 and beyond we will continue to benefit from the significant structural growth opportunities that the WaaS sector offers. As we expand further through accumulating new sites, strengthening our commitment to partnering with the global property industry, we will further extend our existing competitive advantage. I am confident that our improved cost structure will continue to deliver higher productivity and enhanced efficiency and deliver further benefits as we scale."

IWG has started to see a pick-up in sales activity in some of its key markets, which it said was encouraging and validates the significant actions it took last year.

"Although it is still early in the new financial year and sales activity levels take time to feed through, we anticipate an improvement in performance through the course of the year. Overall, the trading outlook for 2017 remains in line with management's expectations."

At 1318 GMT, IWG shares were up 8% to 280.40p.