NFC.L Share News (NFC)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Next Fifteen Communications Group PLC on Wednesday reported strong profit and revenue growth in its recently ended financial year, with good performance continuing since then.

Shares in the company were up 2.0% just before midday Wednesday at 459.00 pence each.

Next Fifteen, a digital communications company, posted revenue of GBP196.8 million in the 12 months to January, a 15% rise year-on-year.

On an adjusted basis, pretax profit grew 21% year-on-year to GBP29.3 million. Reported pretax profit jumped to GBP13.3 million from GBP2.9 million, with this figure stripping out various costs.

The company is paying a 4.50p per share final dividend, taking the year's total to 6.30p, a 20% increase year-on-year.

Next Fifteen said the strong performance was driven by strong organic growth in the second half of the year and "well-executed" acquisitions, which were slightly offset by the stronger sterling.

Organic growth was modest, it said, in the first half of the year but this improved over the following six months.

Year-on-year organic revenue in the UK was 7.6%, in the US it was 5.1%, and in Europe, the Middle East, & Asia it was 3.4%. In the Asia Pacific, the figure fell 0.7% year-on-year.

Looking forward, Next Fifteen said it has made a good start to its new financial year, registering high single-digit organic revenue growth.