Merit Group PLC’s share price surged by a third this morning to 72.88p after it returned to profit in the first half of the fiscal year.
The London Stock Exchange-listed data and analytics business said it had turned a pre-tax profit of £0.5 million, representing 1.47p per share, after generating a £0.3 million loss during the same period last year.
It cited ongoing investment in artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives as a possible driver of further margin improvement, after a six percentage point uptick in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin to 18.5%.
The company said in its unaudited interim results for the six-month period to the end of September that it boosted revenue from continuing operations by 9.3% to £9.9 million, up from £9.1 million a year ago.
It has an estimated market capitalisation of £17 million and is headquartered in London’s Shard.