Corporate rescue and recovery specialist Begbies Traynor Group PLC (AIM: BEG) reported revenues rising 29 percent to £62.1 million in the full year to end-April 2009, on the back of strong growth for its core insolvency administration business, which accounts for 80 percent of group revenue.
Pretax profit from continuing operations rose 28 percent from a year earlier to £7.2 million, and it is raising the total dividend to 2.8 pence a share from 2.5p.
Chairman Ric Traynor said: “The extent of business distress, the increasing volume of formal insolvency appointments and our increased capacity to assist troubled businesses, both in respect of their immediate needs and also over the longer period of rehabilitation or administration, mean we are expecting to see our counter cyclical work flow continue to grow this year and into the medium term.”
Overall, activity levels at the start of the current financial year within the core insolvency business and therefore for the group as a whole are significantly ahead of the same period last year.
The performance of the non-insolvency businesses, principally tax and corporate finance, has been adversely impacted by the difficult market conditions resulting from the current economic environment. Results from the group's corporate finance division, having particularly suffered from a lack of transactional activity in the first half, improved significantly in the second half of the financial year, due in part to the restructuring of these activities.