Ramsdens Holdings PLC (LON:RFX) saw its shares rise again today after the recently-listed pawnbroker and financial services firm posted maiden full-year results showing a sharp increase in profits.
The group – which is the shirt sponsor for relegated Premier League football team, Middlesbrough FC - reported pretax profits of £2.9mln for the year to March 31, up from £2.3mln a year earlier.
Excluding the costs of its AIM flotation in February, Ramsdens’ adjusted pretax profit was up 73% year-on-year to £4.0mln.
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The firm saw its revenue rise by 15% to £34.5mln, up from £30.0mln a year earlier, with growth across all four of the group’s key business segments.
Ramsdens said its precious metals revenue rose by 17% to £10.8mln, while foreign exchange revenue was up 18% to £9.0mln, pawnbroking revenue rose 7% to £6.1mln, and retail jewellery revenue jumped 23% higher to £5.9mln.
The group had 127 stores at its year-end and said it expects to open 12 more in its current financial year.
Strong start to the early part of the current year
Peter Kenyon, Ramsdens' chief executive said: “"We have made a strong start to the early part of the current year across all core segments. We are about to enter our seasonally important summer period and are confident of making further progress."
The firm also noted that it intends to continue its sponsorship of Middlesbrough Football Club following its "regrettably short-lived" period in the Premier League, having sponsored the club since 2010.
Ramsdens will pay a maiden final dividend of 1.3p per share and said it intends to adopt a progressive dividend policy.
In late afternoon trading, Ramsdens shares were still 5.6%, or 7p higher at 132.5p, having been priced at 86p each in its initial public offering when it started trading on AIM on February 15.
Liberum Capital analyst Justin Bates raised his target price for Ramsdens’ shares to 162p from 149p and repeated a ‘buy’ rating in the wake of today’s results.
In a note to clients, the analyst said: “FY17 results were strong and a beat relative to upgraded forecasts published in April'17, post the trading statement.”
-- Updates share price, adds analyst comment --