RWS Holdings – Interim results for the 6 months to 31 March 2009
RWS Holdings plc, Europe’s leading provider of intellectual property support services (patent translations and technical searches) and technical translations, today announced its interim results for the six months ended 31 March 2009.
Financial Highlights:
Currency drives further growth
- Sales for the period exceeded budget and were in line with 2008 at £26.8M after the full London Agreement impact
- Profit before tax* for the period rose by 17.1% to £8M (2008: £6.8M)
- Good operational performance enhanced by favourable exchange rates
- Normalised earnings per share* were up 21.6% to 13.5p (2008: 11.1p)
- Interim dividend increased by 12% to 2.8p (2008: 2.5p)
- Cash generation from operations resulted in net cash at period end of £24.5M (2008: £17.9M), after acquisition costs of £2.2M
- Release of corporation tax provision of £4.4M following agreement with HMRC, in respect of capital gains in 2003
- Significant reduction in interest income due to lower interest rates
* before amortization of intangibles
Operational Highlights:
Resilience in a challenging economic environment
- Solid performance in core patent translations business in spite of London Agreement
- Acquisition of Communicare Limited in March 2009
- PatBase subscription revenues grew 76%, well ahead of expectations
- Fourth Queen’s Award for Enterprise – International Trade
Current Trading:
- Firm trading in the opening weeks of the second half of the year
- Economic climate remains challenging in key markets
Executive Chairman Andrew Brode commented:
“The Group has again achieved record results and exceeded the Board’s expectations, albeit assisted by the weakness of sterling.
The acquisitions of Communicare (and Document Service Center in 2008) will mitigate the effects of the London Agreement. In a challenging economic climate, our strong financial situation and market leadership position us favourably to grow market share and profits. The second half of the year has begun well.”