The Mears Group Board is to declare an interim dividend of 4.75p (H1 2023: 3.70p; FY23 full year: 13.00p) reflecting its confidence in the prospects of the Company. This interim dividend is in line with the Board's stated progressive dividend policy.
Other financial highlights include:
Revenues up 10% year-on-year to £580.0m (2023: £525.6m)
Profit before tax increased by 44% to £30.5m (2023: £21.2m)
Operating margin (pre-IFRS 16) continues to strengthen to 5.2% (2023: 4.0%)
Strong conversion of EBITDA to Operating cash reflecting quality of earnings
Cash conversion at 119% of EBITDA (2023: 117%)
Average daily net cash of £66.4m (2023: £57.4m)
Normalised diluted EPS up 68% to 22.84p (2023: 13.63p) driven by profit growth and augmented by a 12% reduction in the shares in issue over the last twelve months
Completed third share buyback programme; £20.0m cash consideration, 5.6m shares at an average price of 359p, bringing the total of cash returned via buybacks to £53m since May 2023
