Proactive Investors - Next 15 Group PLC hiked its final dividend by 20% as it reported final results for the year to end-January and said trading so far in 2023 has been in line with expectations.
Its performance in the new financial year has been “robust across all four business segments”, the technology-driven marketing group said.
This has been underpinned by the combination of acquisitions and organic growth via new contract wins in the prior year, which saw net revenue grow by 56% to £563.8mln, adjusted profit before tax climb 42% to £112.5mln and adjusted diluted earnings per share rise 35% to 80.4p.
A final dividend of 10.1p per share brings the total payout for last year to 14.6p for the year, up from 12p the year before.
Key drivers for growth were a contract win for venture-building consultancy Mach49 that is expected to top US$400mln over the coming year, the group’s largest acquisition to date of Engine in March 2022, and a raft of other new client wins with the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Morrisons and BiC.
Next 15 chief executive Tim Dyson said corporate strategy and communications specialist Engine UK has been successfully integrated and is now making a “very positive contribution” to trading, while also flagging progress in the US, which now represents 52% of total net revenues.
On current trading he said: “We have continued to see strong levels of spend from all of our major customers. In addition, our work with the public sector has remained strong and is anticipated to grow in the current year.
"We therefore expect our results for the full year to be in line with management expectations.”
Giving a view on further M&A, Next 15 chair Penny Ladkin-Brand said the board “will continue its disciplined approach when evaluating the group’s portfolio and remains confident in Next 15’s ability to continue its trajectory this year”.