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LONDON (Alliance News) - Johnson Service Group PLC hiked its 2018 dividend Monday after profit and revenue rose in another "strong year of substantial growth" for the textile rental firm.
In 2018, pretax profit widened 6.1% to GBP33.1 million from GBP31.2 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 10% to GBP321.1 million from GBP290.9 million the year before.
Profit performance was held back by one-off rises in amortisation of intangible assets charges and acquisition costs. These rose to GBP9.4 million from GBP8.5 million the year prior.
Adjusted pretax profit - excluding these exceptional costs - widened 7.1% to GBP42.5 million from GBP39.7 million the year before.
Johnson proposed a 2.1 pence final dividend per share, up 11% from 1.9p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 11% to 3.1p from 2.8p the year before.
"Our strategy of driving the quality of growth organically by investing capital in our operations, coupled with selective acquisitions, has delivered another strong year of substantial growth with both divisions achieving higher levels of new business," Johnson Chief Executive Officer Peter Egan said.
Johnson is dividend into two main units: Workwear and Hotel, Restaurants & Catering.
Egan - who became CEO at the start of January - added that performance since the start of 2019 had been "in line" with market expectations.
"With strong new business sales in the second half of 2018, existing strong cash flows and an established strategy of investing for growth, we remain confident in the year ahead," Egan continued.
Shares in Johnson were 0.8% higher at 131.00 pence on Monday.
