Sharecast - Adjusted operating profit fell 22% to £38.7m for the six months to June 30. Revenue was 8% lower to £330m as volume declines were offset by higher prices.
“The agility of our teams in managing cost and reducing inventory, together with the success of the prior year pricing actions in offsetting cost inflation, has limited the decline in adjusted operating profit despite a significant reduction in volumes,” said interim chief executive Jason Ashton.
“As we move into the second half, the impact of customer destocking is expected to subside, production levels will normalise with market demand, and commodity cost inflation is expected to ease further.”
“Profitability is expected to continue to benefit from prior year pricing actions, whilst the benefits of previously announced structural cost-saving initiatives will be realised in the second half.”
Bridgepoint reported a big increase in first profits despite what it termed as macro volatility during the first half.
"These results reflect a period of strong [Fee Related Earnings] performance, careful management of cost growth to match progress in fundraising and the fact that performance related income is weighted heavily towards the second half," said Bridgepoint chariman William Jackson.
"We continue to be confident in our ability to deliver investment income in line with current expectations in 2023 and 2024 in aggregate. The business remains well positioned for current times with multiple routes to delivering performance."
The private equity outfit said that profit before tax for the first six months of 2023 jumped 10% to reach £53.1m.
Fee paying assets under management rose 24% versus the year earlier period to €24.6bn.
Investment income on the other hand fell by just over two third to £12.7m as a result of lower exit activity during the half, but expectations for this stream of income in 2023 and 2024 were unchanged.
Capital deployment however remained on track at €1.7bn over the latest six months while total assets under management stood at€39.5bn.
The latter was up by 6% for the half and by 48% since Bridgepoint's IPO in the 2020 financial year.
Its Bridgepoint Europe VII fund had already received commitments worth €6bn versus a target of €7bn, having received €500m in the latest quarter.
Bridgepoint Credit Opportunities IV and Bridgepoint Growth II were set to close over the next year, with BDC V and BDL IV expected to launch during that same window.
All funds' performance remained on or ahead of plan, Bridgepoint said.
Management declared an interim dividend of 4.4p with the final payout expected to be of no less than that amount.
Together with Bridgepoint's share buyback, the total capital return was expected to be more than double than that in the first half of 2022.
STEM-focussed staffing company SThree reported a ‘resilient’ first half on Tuesday, with revenue rising 6.9% year-on-year to £825.2m, or 2.4% on a like-for-like basis.
The FTSE 250 firm said net fees amounted to £208.6m in the six months ended 31 May, reflecting a 2.7% rise, but a 1.8% decline on a like-for-like basis, while operating profit decreased 14.6% to £38.1m, or 21.9% on a like-for-like basis.
Its operating profit conversion ratio was 18.3%, down by 3.7 percentage points, or 4.5 percentage points on a like-for-like basis, while profit before tax was £38.5m, a decrease of 13.1%, or 20.4% on a like-for-like comparison.
Basic earnings per share were reported at 21p, down by 13%, or 20.3% like-for-like.
The company’s interim dividend per share remained unchanged at 5p.
SThree's net cash position improved significantly, reaching £72.4m, making for a 49.6% increase compared to the prior year.
On the operational front, SThree said the performance across its three largest countries showed mixed results, with the Netherlands experiencing 3% growth in net fees, Germany reporting a 1% decline, and the US facing an 11% decrease.
Collectively, those three markets accounted for 73% of net fees.
The firm said the technology and engineering sectors saw growth, with technology net fees up 1% and engineering ahead 17%.
However, the life sciences sector experienced a downturn, with net fees down 21%, primarily driven by global sector trends.
Contract net fees continued to be a significant part of the business, representing 81% of group net fees, up from 77% in the first half of 2022.
The contractor order book value remained flat year-on-year at £190.3m, which the board said provided good visibility for the rest of the 2023 financial year.
Looking ahead, SThree said its technology improvement programme remained on track and on budget, with the integrated platform receiving positive feedback during business user testing.
The phased geographical rollout of the programme was set to begin in the second half, with the board adding that it was expected to drive scale and higher margins over the mid-to-long term.
“Our focus on STEM and flexible talent has delivered a resilient performance in the first half of the year against strong comparatives and macro-economic headwinds,” said chief executive officer Timo Lehne.
“This was underpinned by the group's strategic focus on contract, which grew 3%, following robust extensions and pricing as companies commit to holding on to required skills in the face of ongoing acute shortages.
“We have made excellent progress against the four pillars of our strategy to ensure the business has the right people, structures and processes to support the next phase of our growth.”
Lehne said the rollout of the company’s technology improvement programme was on track and on budget, adding that it would be a “key enabler” in it delivering a unique proposition within the market, driving both scale and higher margins over the mid-to-long term.
“The macro-economic backdrop remains unpredictable in the short-term, however our established leadership position and progress with our technology improvement programme leaves us more confident than ever in our growth strategy.”
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