City round-up: HSS; Anexo; Renold; Revolution Bars; Johnson Service Group
HSS Hire Group, the Manchester-based tool and equipment hire business, has increased revenues to £349.1m for 2023.
Its results today showed a dip in pre-tax profits from last year’s high of £18.9m, to £11.8m, which the company said was still a ‘solid trading performance’ that outperformed the market.
During the current year, the Group took the strategic decision to migrate the remaining UK HSS branches to the Builder’s Merchant model. The impact of the change includes the closure of 16 branches during the current year, with additional closures approved by the Board subsequent to the year-end. This strategic initiative is expected to generate annual cost savings of c£1m and all impacted colleagues have been redeployed to new locations.
HSS’s low-cost builders’ merchant network expanded to 89 locations, compared with 63 a year ago, and delivered 21% growth on a same store basis.
Steve Ashmore, Chief Executive Officer, said: “I am pleased to report another year of significant strategic progress alongside resilient financial performance, delivering revenue growth ahead of the market despite a more challenging macro-environment. We have made big strides implementing clear focussed strategies for our two divisions ProService and Operations, with early positive results providing the confidence to accelerate strategic investment to evolve HSS into a leading marketplace for equipment services. Customers are engaging with our marketplace platform at an exponential rate, valuing the ease it brings and resulting in significant revenue growth.”
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Alan Sellers
Listed credit and legal services group Anexo has claimed a “solid performance” during 2023 with Group revenues increasing in 2023 by 8.0% to £149.3 million (2022: £138.3 million).
Pre-tax profits dipped to £23m, falling slightly from the level reported in 2022 (£24.1 million).
The company said this reflects the investment in staff and marketing costs as well as a general increase in finance costs as interest rates impacted the cost of capital.
Commenting on the Final Results, Alan Sellers, Executive Chairman of Anexo Group plc, said: “I am pleased to report a solid performance across all divisions. As always, we have managed our vehicle numbers effectively and sought to utilise our working capital as efficiently as possible. Cash collections continue to grow as a result of this strategy and we continue to invest in high quality staff.
“The housing disrepair and large loss divisions continue to expand and play an increasingly important part in the development of the Group. We look forward to further developments in the ongoing Diesel Emissions class actions and continue to focus on effective cash management to maximise cash generation and create value for all our shareholders.”
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Robert Purcell, CEO, Renold
Industrial chains and related power transmission products business Renold has won a supply deal with the Royal Canadian Navy, worth £10.6 million. This contract, together with other military work recently awarded, means that Renold’s military order book has increased by £13.1 million, over recent months.
The contract, to be delivered over the next six years is for flexible couplings, which are an important component of a ship’s propulsion system and form part of Renold’s Hi-Tec range of couplings, which are supplied worldwide for large marine and industrial projects.
Renold CEO, Robert Purcell, commented: “This excellent long-term contract will further reinforce our Couplings business performance and shows the on-going benefits of our product development strategy combined with our manufacturing and engineering excellence.”
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Revolution Bars Group plc has raised £12.5 million in share placing which represent 62.0 per cent. of the available Open Offer Shares.
The listed bar group, which is also running a parallel process to potentially sell-off parts of the business, will now proceed to an AGM on 20 May 2024 to approve the Restructuring Plan.
Revolution Bars already had £3m of backing from entrepreneur Luke Johnson and up to £10.5m from other existing shareholders and investors.
Cornerstone investments of £9.5 million have been secured and include £3m from Luke Johnson, £3m from the Robus Recovery Fund II and £3.5 million from three key existing
shareholders.
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Johnson Service Group, the listed textile services provider will tell shareholders at its AGM today that revenue in the first three months of the year amounted to some £114 million (2023: £98 million). Organic growth in the same period was 8.9% (HORECA: 13.5%; Workwear: 0.5%).
The company will also reveal that energy costs have continued a general trend downwards since the end of 2023, although still remain volatile on a day-by-day basis and will provide a drag on their margins.
The company also estimates that increased bank debt increased from £61.7 million at December 2023 to £72.9 million at the end of March 2024 will peak in June 2024 at £85.0 million before reducing to some £55.0 million by December 2024.
“We continue to see exciting opportunities to deploy capital organically and have a good M&A pipeline.”
