Financial highlights:
Underlying PBT of £2.2m, a year-on-year increase of 100%
Underlying EPS of 17.1p, a year-on-year increase of 26%, lower than the increase in underlying PBT due to the non-recurrence of last year's tax credits
After £0.3m of other items, statutory PBT rose by 70% to £1.9m
Total cash balances including JetCard deposits of £15.0m (£18.0m)
Excluding JetCard deposits, cash balances decreased to £1.4m from £6.1m due to working capital movements associated with some of our largest credit customers and the acquisition of Cabot Aviation Services Limited
Interim dividend of 7.33p, a year-on-year increase of 10%
The trading outlook for the full year remains in line with the Board's expectations
Operating highlights:
A strong performance in Commercial Jets, particularly in the UK and Europe but the US was impacted by lower activity from a key customer
Private Jets in the UK performed well, although Europe was sluggish and the US was below expectations
JetCard utilisation up by 22% with a record number of JetCards in issue
Strategic highlights:
Implementation of our Customer First programme has begun
The successful acquisition and integration of Cabot Aviation Services Limited, a leading Aircraft Remarketing company for a net consideration of up to £1.1m
Acquisition of Baines Simmons Limited, a world leader in Aviation Safety Consulting, announced on 19 August for a net consideration of up to £6.0m
Mark Briffa, CEO of Air Partner, commented: 'Our first half performance is a great testament to all of those who work at Air Partner and shows that by putting customers at the heart of our business we can differentiate ourselves from our competition and deliver good trading momentum. The integration of Cabot Aviation has gone well and we are seeing benefits from leveraging our customer and supplier relationships, as well as new remarketing opportunities arising as a result of being part of our Group. The purchase of Baines Simmons in August is an exciting opportunity for Air Partner to extend the Group's service and product capabilities and should further strengthen our customer proposition. As well as the benefits that the acquisitions should provide for our customers, they are important steps in the Group's aim to build wider and more stable revenue streams that sit alongside and complement our broking activities.'
