Revenue growth for Jardine Lloyd Thompson

RISK and insurance specialist and employee benefits consultants Jardine Lloyd Thompson has announced a 5% growth in annual revenue although pre-tax profit levels fell due to a planned investment in the United States.

The company, which has an office in Birmingham, reported revenues of £1,155m for the year ended December 31, 2015.

This was despite a number of challenges especially in its Employee Benefits division, where organic revenue declined 6% due to challenges in the UK and Ireland.

Underlying pre-tax profit fell to £170.1m, a fall of 7%, which it said reflected its planned US investment.

Underlying profit margin, excluding the US investment, increased by 10bp to 18.4%.
Reported diluted earnings per share were down 2% to 47.0p.

Nevertheless, the total cash dividend of 30.6p was up 6%, reflecting the board’s confidence in the group’s underlying trading performance.

Commenting, Dominic Burke, Group Chief Executive, said: “The group faces a number of external headwinds as we go into 2016. However, our focus remains on those factors that we can control and on maintaining the revenue momentum and cost control established over the last ten years. We remain confident in our strategy, our platform and our continued ability to grow.”