Key Points (for the six months ended 31 March 2017)
· Revenue up by 18% to £32.84m (2016: £27.90m)
· Gross profit up £2.81m to £7.75m (2016: £4.94m)
· Underlying* profit before tax of £1.03m (2016: Underlying* loss before tax of £1.51m). Reported profit before tax of £0.27m (2016: loss of £3.45m)
· Successful equity raise of £8.5m to restore strength to the balance sheet reducing net borrowings** to £3.50m from £10.01m in September 2016.
· Headcount reduced by 10% to 488 (2016: 541) following actions to reduce unproductive cost base; utilisation levels increased by 5 percentage points to 74% (2016: 69%)
· Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa “AMEA” returned to underlying* profit for the period of £0.76m (2016: Underlying* loss before tax of £0.76m) with utilisation levels increased to 74% (2016: 70%).
· Europe & Americas “EuAm” reported underlying* profit for the period of £1.31m (2016: £0.01m) with utilisation levels increased to 73% (2016: 66%).
· Sale of South Africa business to local management team agreed post period end.
* Underlying figures are stated before the share-based payment costs, amortisation of intangible assets and exceptional items (note 6).
** Net (borrowings) / cash consists of cash and cash equivalents, bank loans and finance leases.
Steve Norris, Chairman of Driver Group, said: