Results round-up

Home shopping company Findel reported a jump in full-year profit and revenue on Wednesday, thanks in part to a solid performance form Studio, its online value retailer.

In the year to 29 March, pre-tax profit jumped 33% to £29.4m on revenue of £506.8m, up 5.7% from 2018.

Findel said Studio continued to drive the group performance, with strong growth in customer numbers, sales and profits. It added that Studio enjoyed a "particularly strong" trading performance in the run-up to Christmas.

The company also announced plans to change its name to Studio Retail Group.

Chief executive Phil Maudsley said: "These strong results reflect the clear transformation of the group into a digital-first, value led retailer.

"In particular, Studio has prospered in current market conditions. We have rapidly grown the active customer base to 1.9 million over the last three years, with new customers drawn to the incredible value we offer, while existing customers are shopping with us more frequently and across wider ranges.

"Our education business has also adopted a digital-first mentality with an objective to save schools time and money to win back customers and I am delighted with the progress that continues to be made."

Last month, Sports Direct's mandatory £139.2m offer for Findel lapsed after it failed to get the required level of support from shareholders.

Sports Direct offered to buy the group back in March after agreeing to purchase 6 million shares in the business from a single shareholder, City Financial Absolute. This took its holding in Findel to 36.8% from 29.9%, above the 30% mandatory offer threshold set by the Takeover Code.

Findel had been vocal in its rejection of the "highly opportunistic" offer, which it said "significantly" undervalued the group.

Outsourcer Mitie said on Thursday that it swung to a full-year profit as revenue rose thanks to a strong performance from its core businesses.

In the year to the end of March, the company made a pre-tax profit of £36.4m versus a loss of £15.4m the year before, as revenue increased 9.4% to £2.2bn, with organic growth of 5.5%. Mitie said this reflects a strong performance from its "top strategic accounts".

Meanwhile, operating profit before other items was up 6% in the year to £88.2m, coming in above the guidance range of £84m to £87m given by the company back in March.

The group said its fixed-term order book from continuing operations was broadly flat at £4.1bn, benefiting from VSG's order book and significant contract wins towards the end of the year. In addition, it said it has seen a steady flow of wins and retentions following the successful reorganisation of its sales team and the introduction of strategic account managers.

Mitie declared a final dividend of 2.67p, taking the full-year dividend to 4p a share, in line with the previous year.

Chief executive Phil Bentley said: "Our strategy of focusing on our larger businesses and strategic accounts where our technology offer is a true differentiator is beginning to deliver value for shareholders. Over FY 18/19 we sharpened our focus by continuing to invest in customer service and technology and by exiting non-core businesses.

"Project Helix has provided solid foundations for Mitie's future growth, enabling investments in our people, customers and technology. With the foundations now built, we are now moving to Project Forte focused primarily on driving simplicity and efficiency in Engineering Services. Together with our focus on strategic accounts and larger businesses, we should see continued improvement in the group's profits. At the same time, we are making good progress in strengthening our balance sheet."