Workwear and linen hire firm enjoys increase in profits

Operating profit was up by seven per cent to £19.9m in the first six months of the year at Johnson Service Group.

The Runcorn based firm saw revenues increase by 10.3% to £152.2m over the same period.

The company said the strong financial performance reflects both strong organic growth of 7.2% together with the impact of recent acquisitions.

Significant investment in the first half also increased production capacity at several sites to support the demand triggered by strong organic growth

In the same period Johnson acquired the HORECA linen business which is based in the South West for £15m.

The acquisition means there is now extending coverage in the South West and a new well equipped laundry with spare capacity for growth.

The firm is predicting full year results are expected to be slightly ahead of current market expectations

Chris Sander, chief executive, said: “We are delighted to report another consistently strong performance across the group.

“Our strategy of driving the quality of growth organically by investing capital in our operations, coupled with selective acquisitions, is delivering encouraging results.

“Recent organic growth and margin performance gives us confidence in the outlook for the second half of 2018.

“As a result, we expect results for the full year to be slightly ahead of current market expectations.”