Totally holds dividend as lockdown spurs demand

Totally announced an unchanged interim dividend as the healthcare services company swung to a profit and said demand was increasing during the second Covid-19 lockdown.

Pretax profit for the six months to the end of September was £0.1m from a loss of £2.6m a year earlier as revenue rose to £54.1m from £49.2m. Gross profit rose to £10.2m from £9.8m.

The company proposed an interim dividend of 0.25p a share - the same as a year earlier. Cash at the bank rose to £12.3m from £8.9m at the end of March.

Totally operates services for the National Health Service such as the NHS 111 and GP out of hours call lines. It also provides primary care and other medical facilities. Planned care and insourcing operations were restricted by government actions in the first half but the urgent care division performed strongly, Totally said.

Chairman Bob Holt said: "The group has maintained a robust financial position, showing resilient growth in revenue, earnings and cash flow in the period under review. At the time of writing we continue to see increases in demand for some services as a direct result of Covid-19 and expect this to increase during the second national lockdown."

The AIM-traded company's shares rose 2.3% to 17.65p at 1:05 GMT. The shares have almost doubled in 2020.