KCOM’s head in the Cloud as results show rise in profits
HULL-BASED communications and IT firm KCOM has delivered strong results as demand for new and better technologies grows.
Pretax profits rose to £51.5m, whilst they reached just under the milestone last year, coming in at £49.9m.
Revenue dipped to £348m compared to £370m to the same period, the year to 31 March, in 2014.
The demand for its fibre and broadband services is “way ahead of the national average” according to the firm.
KCOM has also successfully implemented a private cloud contact solution for HMRC, and the demand for its cloud-based services across new and existing customers has boosted revenues.
Chief executive Bill Halbert said: “Last year we began the second stage of the transformation of our business.
“In Hull and East Yorkshire, the strong demand for our Lightstream fibre-based services has been maintained and in the Enterprise and SMB markets, we continue to see growing interest in our cloud and collaboration related capabilities. These are the key opportunities for future growth.
“In the coming year, we will seek to accelerate that progress, particularly in the Enterprise space where we see significant opportunity.
“In accordance with our previously stated dividend commitment, the Board is recommending a final dividend of 3.58p per share.”
Accoring to Mr Halbert, this will be the sixth year of 10% dividend increase, during which the full year dividend has grown from 1.75p to the proposed 5.37p, which he said was “a reflection of our confidence in the Group’s underlying strength.”
