Half Yearly Report

RNS Number : 0185A
BrainJuicer Group PLC
24 September 2015
 

 

 

Press Release

24 September 2015

 

BrainJuicer Group PLC

("BrainJuicer" or "the Company")

 

 

Interim Results for the Six Months ended 30 June 2015

 

BrainJuicer Group PLC (AIM: BJU), the innovative international market research agency, today announces its Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2015.

 

Highlights

4% revenue growth to £11.61m (H1 2014: £11.20m)

7% revenue growth from core quantitative services

12% growth in overhead costs to £8.08m; including £0.32m one-off costs (H1 2014: £7.18m with no one-off costs)

24% decrease in operating profit to £1.17m (H1 2014: £1.54m); 3% decline in underlying operating profit (pre one-off costs)

25% decrease in profit before tax to £1.14m (H1 2014: £1.52m)

25% decrease in fully diluted earnings per share to 5.6p (H1 2014: 7.5p)

Interim dividend maintained at 1.0p (2014 interim dividend: 1.0p)

£5.29m cash at period end (31 December 2014: £5.35m) and no debt

 

Commenting on the Company's results, John Kearon, Founder and Chief Juicer of BrainJuicer, said:

 "We continue to accelerate profitable brand growth for an increasing number of clients who use our behavioural science based research to deliver 5-Star marketing that brings joy to their customers and fame to their brands.  We've decided to move from a predominantly qualitative brand strategy service to a more scalable and predictive quantitative service, which has had some dampening effect on H1 revenue but which should bring benefits in the future.  At the same time we're evaluating opportunities to enhance our growth, which could involve significant revenue investment.  We believe we're on track to meet market profit expectations for the full year, but have to inject our usual caveat: we have little revenue visibility and plenty of volatility within individual clients, and so cannot anticipate with any certainty how our results will unfold in the short term."

 

The Company can be found at www.brainjuicer.com.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

BrainJuicer Group PLC +44 20 7043 1000

Canaccord Genuity Limited +44 20 7523 8000

John Kearon, Chief Executive Officer

Simon Bridges / Henry Fitzgerald-O'Connor /

James Geddes, Chief Financial Officer

Emma Gabriel

Susan Griffin, Chief Marketing Officer

 

investorrelations@brainjuicer.com

 

 

INTERIM STATEMENT

 

 

Revenue grew 4% in the first half of the year ("H1") 2015 and gross profit by 6%.  The overall impact of exchange rate movements was not material.  Overhead costs were up 12% in part due to one-off costs (further detail below), and operating profit declined by 24%.  Excluding the one-off costs underlying operating profit declined by 3%.  As is usually the case, most of our profits turned into cash flow.  We returned £0.42m to shareholders in the form of dividends, and finished the half-year with cash of £5.29m and no debt (down only marginally from the £5.35m and no debt at 31 December 2014).

 

Our core quantitative services, comprising our mainstream quantitative research solutions (such as Predictive Markets and our ComMotion advertising testing technique), grew in revenue terms by 7% and in gross profit terms by 11%.  This part of our business is the main source of our profits, is more scalable, and is expected to be the main driver of our future growth.  Such services contributed 85% of our revenue in H1 2015. 

 

The remaining 15% of our revenue came from our higher value, but less scalable, qualitative Juice Generation research and Behavioural Consultancy services and the revenue from these declined by 15%.  This follows a 19% year-on-year decline over the previous 12 months (calendar year 2014).  These declines can in part be explained by the lumpy and volatile nature of these projects, but this is not the whole story.

 

Historically these services covered a broad array of consumer insight projects and marketing challenges.  However, we have recently repurposed and focussed this part of our business into "Brand Strategy", where we apply our Juice Generation and Behavioural Consultancy techniques and our marketing know-how on advising clients on their marketing and brand planning exercises.  They tend to be strategically important services and lead more naturally into our mainstream quantitative products.  We hope therefore that there will be a more direct correlation between this part of our business and growth in our core quantitative services.

 

The revenue decline from these services over H1 was in large part due to this transition to Brand Strategy, and we believe that revenue will pick up over time.  While the revenue from these services is relevant, their importance is significantly more than the revenue they generate per se.  They play into the focus of our business - to help clients create famous brands - and lead into what we think of as marketing execution, where clients create the advertising, packaging, and new product ideas, which then require the large-scale quantitative research services we offer.  We are continuing to invest in this part of our business and in H1 hired two senior brand planners from advertising agencies.

 

Geographically, gross profit grew 15% in the Americas (predominantly the US), was flat in Europe and was down 1% in Asia.  Within Europe, gross profit from the UK (historically, our largest market) was down 9% but this was compensated for by growth in Germany, France and the Netherlands.  Our business is particularly uniform within our different offices.  We offer the same services, using the same operating platform, to many of the same clients, with a similar profile of employee and team structure.  Geographic differences in revenue from one period to the next can often be down to shifts in buying patterns within large global multi-nationals as much as anything else, and we are increasingly adept at shifting resources accordingly.

 

Moving on to costs, administrative expenses (or overheads) grew by 12%.  These costs included £0.32m of one-off costs relating to two separate initiatives.  Excluding these one-off costs, overheads grew by 8%, and reflected an increase in average headcount of 10% mainly in our account management client-facing teams.

 

One of the initiatives related to an acquisition opportunity which we looked closely at and in so-doing incurred fees of £0.15m.  We withdrew from the transaction as we were unable to reconcile our view of the business's financial prospects with the value aspiration of the sellers.  We are coming across an increasing number of interesting opportunities but will only proceed where there is that relatively rare combination of close cultural fit and clear economic advantage.  We are planning on continuing to grow organically in the main, and are evaluating opportunities to enhance our growth, which could involve significant revenue investment.

 

The other one-off cost related to the relocation of our London head office into larger premises, which gave rise to moving costs and rent duplication of £0.16m in aggregate.  We have increased our London office space as a result by 77%.  We also moved into new larger offices in several of our other locations, but the costs associated with these other moves were not so material (and so are not included within our £0.32m one-off cost amount).

 

The combination of modest growth in revenue and the significantly higher increase in administrative expenses caused profit before tax to decline by 25%.  Absent the one-off costs, profit before tax would have declined by 4%.  Our effective tax rate was 33% (H1 2014: 33%), and so profit after tax also declined by 25%.  Our share base remained relatively constant over the period and so earnings per share declined similarly.

 

There was a net cash inflow (excluding cash returned to shareholders) of £0.57m.  We distributed £0.42m to shareholders by way of a final 2014 dividend.  Our cash (over £5 million and no debt at 30 June 2015) is well in excess of anticipated working capital needs, and since 30 June 2015 we have repurchased 268,801 option and other management incentive shares for £1.10m (net of option share buy backs).  We will also be paying an interim dividend of 1.0p per share (the same as last year; see note 5 to the accompanying interim financial statements for details).

 

Outlook

In summary, we achieved modest revenue growth in a period during which we transitioned our important Juice Generation and Behavioural Consultancy to Brand Strategy.  Our core quantitative business grew in line with expectations and we believe we are on track to meet market profit expectations for the full year.  However, we have to inject our usual caveat: we have little revenue visibility and plenty of volatility within individual clients, and so cannot anticipate with any certainty how our results will unfold in the short term.

 

John Kearon                                                                               James Geddes

Chief Juicer                                                                                Chief Financial Officer

 

 

 

 

 

5 YEAR SUMMARY - HALF YEAR
 

(£000s unless specified otherwise)

 

 

 

Six months to 30 June

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

11,610

11,197

10,765

10,379

9,089

growth

4%

4%

4%

14%

26%

Gross profit

9,254

8,719

8,455

7,998

7,120

growth

6%

3%

6%

12%

26%

Operating profit

1,174

1,536

1,298

716

628

growth

-24%

18%

81%

14%

24%

Pre-tax profit

1,139

1,520

1,298

717

630

growth

-25%

17%

81%

14%

25%

Post-tax profit

763

1,018

870

481

416

growth

-25%

17%

81%

16%

21%

EPS - diluted

5.6p

7.5p

6.7p

3.7p

3.2p

growth

-25%

12%

81%

16%

23%

Cash flow pre financing

565

(147)

1,948

(714)

(394)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash balance (no debt)

5,286

2,528

5,460

2,411

2,057

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dividend per share (interim)

1.0p

1.0p

0.9p

0.85p

0.75p

growth

-

11%

6%

13%

25%

Special dividend per share

-

12.0p

-

-

-

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share buy-backs (net of stock option proceeds)*

-

1,531

29

276

97

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*2014 share buy-backs includes £980,000 relating to the cash-settling of part of the Company's long term incentive plan.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

5 YEAR SUMMARY - ANNUAL
 

(£000s unless specified otherwise)

 

 

 

Year to 31 December

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

24,645

24,457

20,822

20,713

16,360

growth

1%

17%

-

27%

38%

Gross profit

19,410

19,087

16,068

16,063

12,622

growth

2%

19%

-

27%

41%

Operating profit

4,301

3,550

1,513

2,758

2,216

growth

21%

135%

-45%

24%

35%

Pre-tax profit

4,286

3,556

1,515

2,760

2,217

growth

21%

135%

-45%

24%

34%

Post-tax profit

2,897

2,435

1,038

1,850

1,480

growth

19%

135%

-44%

25%

25%

EPS - diluted

21.3p

18.7p

7.9p

14.1p

11.3p

growth

14%

137%

-44%

25%

26%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash flow pre financing

3,157

4,466

866

1,446

1,784

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash balance (no debt)

5,347

6,188

3,755

3,683

2,770

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dividend per share (interim and final)

4.3p

3.9p

3.1p

3.0p

2.4p

growth

10%

26%

3%

25%

26%

Special dividend per share

12.0p

12.0p

-

-

-

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share buy-backs (net of stock option proceeds)*

1,938

71

408

217

1,046

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*2014 share buy-backs includes £1,239,000 relating to the cash-settling of part of the Company's long term incentive plan.
 

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT

for the six months ended 30 June 2015

 

 

 

 

Note

Six months to

30 Jun 2015

Unaudited

Six months to

30 Jun 2014

Unaudited

Year to

31 Dec 2014

Audited

 

 

£'000

£'000

£'000

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

3

11,610

11,197

24,645

 

 

 

 

 

Cost of sales

 

(2,356)

(2,478)

(5,235)

 

 

 

 

 

Gross profit

 

9,254

8,719

19,410

 

 

 

 

 

Administrative expenses

 

(8,080)

(7,183)

(15,109)

 

 

 

 

 

Operating profit

3

1,174

1,536

4,301

 

 

 

 

 

Finance costs

 

(35)

(16)

(15)

 

 

 

 

 

Profit before taxation

3

1,139

1,520

4,286

 

 

 

 

 

Income tax expense

 

(376)

(502)

(1,389)

 

 

 

 

 

Profit for the financial period

 

763

1,018

2,897

 

 

 

 

 

Attributable to equity holders of the Company

 

763

1,018

2,897

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earnings per share attributable to equity

holders of the Company

 

Basic earnings per share

4

6.0p

8.1p

23.0p

 

 

 

 

 

Diluted earnings per share

4

5.6p

7.5p

21.3p

 

All of the activities of the Group are classed as continuing.

 

CONDENSED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

for the six months ended 30 June 2015

 

 

 

 

Six months to

30 Jun 2015

Unaudited

Six months to

30 Jun 2014

Unaudited

Year to

31 Dec 2014

Audited

 

£'000

£'000

£'000

 

 

 

 

Profit for the financial period

763

1,018

2,897

 

 

 

 

Other comprehensive income:

 

 

 

Items that may be subsequently reclassified to profit or loss

 

 

 

Exchange differences on translating foreign operations

(108)

(80)

(62)

Other comprehensive income for the period, net of tax

(108)

(80)

(62)

 

 

 

 

Total comprehensive income for the period

and amounts attributable to equity holders

655

938

2,835

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

as at 30 June 2015

 

 

 

Note

30 Jun 2015

Unaudited

30 Jun 2014
Unaudited

31 Dec 2014
Audited

 

 

£'000

£'000

£'000

ASSETS

 

 

 

 

Non-current assets

 

 

 

 

Property, plant and equipment

 

321

130

163

Intangible assets

 

641

861

797

Deferred tax asset

 

882

1,051

814

 

 

1,844

2,042

1,774

Current assets

 

 

 

 

Inventories

 

122

197

195

Trade and other receivables

 

5,183

6,005

6,724

Income tax recoverable

 

-

48

-

Cash and cash equivalents

 

5,286

2,528

5,347

 

 

10,591

8,778

12,266

Total assets

 

12,435

10,820

14,040

 

 

 

 

 

EQUITY

 

 

 

 

Capital and reserves attributable to equity holders of the Company

 

 

 

 

Share capital

7

132

131

131

Share premium account

 

1,599

1,580

1,580

Merger reserve

 

477

477

477

Foreign currency translation reserve

 

(172)

(82)

(64)

Retained earnings

 

6,107

4,098

5,581

Total equity

 

8,143

6,204

7,705

 

 

 

 

 

LIABILITIES

 

 

 

 

Non-current liabilities

 

 

 

 

Provisions

 

407

456

368

 

 

407

456

368

Current liabilities

 

 

 

 

Provisions

 

291

206

269

Trade and other payables

 

3,540

3,954

5,543

Current income tax liabilities

 

54

-

155

 

 

3,885

4,160

5,967

Total liabilities

 

4,292

4,616

6,335

Total equity and liabilities

 

12,435

10,820

14,040

 

 

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT

for the six months ended 30 June 2015

 

 

Note

Six months to

30 Jun 2015

Unaudited

Six months to

30 Jun 2014

Unaudited

Year to

31 Dec 2014

Audited

 

 

£'000

£'000

£'000

 

 

 

 

 

Net cash generated from operations

6

1,274

589

4,672

Tax paid

 

(477)

(644)

(1,242)

Net cash generated from operating activities

 

797

(55)

3,430

 

 

 

 

 

Cash flows from investing activities

 

 

 

 

Purchase of property, plant and equipment

 

(227)

(68)

(159)

Purchase of intangible assets

 

(5)

(24)

(114)

Net cash used by investing activities

 

(232)

(92)

(273)

 

 

 

 

 

Net cash flow before financing activities

 

565

(147)

3,157

 

 

 

 

 

Cash flows from financing activities

 

 

 

 

Interest

 

(35)

(16)

(15)

Proceeds from issue of new shares

 

20

-

-

Proceeds from sale of treasury shares

 

-

156

334

Purchase of own shares

 

-

(707)

(1,033)

Purchase of equity interests

 

-

(980)

(1,239)

Dividends paid to owners

 

(417)

(1,890)

(2,016)

Net cash used by financing activities

 

(432)

(3,437)

(3,969)

 

 

 

 

 

Net increase/(decrease) in cash

and cash equivalents 

 

133

(3,584)

(812)

 

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period

 

5,347

6,188

6,188

Exchange losses on cash and cash equivalents

 

(193)

(76)

(29)

Cash and cash equivalents

at end of period

 

5,287

2,528

5,347

 

 

 

 

 

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

as at 30 June 2015

 

 

 

Share
capital

Share premium account

Merger
reserve

Foreign currency translation reserve

Retained earnings

Total

 

 

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 1 January 2014

 

131

1,579

477

(2)

5,924

8,109

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Profit for the financial period

 

-

-

-

-

1,018

1,018

Other comprehensive income:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- currency translation differences

 

-

-

-

(80)

-

(80)

Total comprehensive income

 

-

-

-

(80)

1,018

938

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transactions with owners:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Employee share options scheme:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- new shares issued on exercise

 

-

1

-

-

-

1

- value of employee services

 

-

-

-

-

67

67

- current tax credited to equity

 

-

-

-

-

387

387

- deferred tax credited to equity

 

-

-

-

-

411

411

Dividends paid to owners

 

-

-

-

-

(1,890)

(1,890)

Settlement of long term incentives

 

-

-

-

-

(1,234)

(1,234)

Sale of treasury shares

 

-

-

-

-

156

156

Purchase of treasury shares

 

-

-

-

-

(741)

(741)

 

 

-

1

-

-

(2,844)

(2,843)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 30 June 2014

 

131

1,580

477

(82)

4,098

6,204

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 1 January 2014

 

131

1,579

477

(2)

5,924

8,109

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Profit for the financial year

 

-

-

-

-

2,897

2,897

Other comprehensive income:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- currency translation differences

 

-

-

-

(62)

-

(62)

Total comprehensive income

 

-

-

-

(62)

2,897

2,835

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transactions with owners:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Employee share options scheme:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- exercise of share options

 

-

1

-

-

-

1

- value of employee services

 

-

-

-

-

67

67

- current tax credited to equity

 

-

-

-

-

414

414

- deferred tax credited to equity

 

-

-

-

-

233

233

Dividends paid to owners

 

-

-

-

-

(2,016)

(2,016)

Sale of treasury shares

 

-

-

-

-

334

334

Purchase of treasury shares

 

-

-

-

-

(1,033)

(1,033)

Settlement of long term incentives

 

-

-

-

-

(1,239)

(1,239)

 

 

-

1

-

-

(3,240)

(3,239)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 31 December 2014

 

131

1,580

477

(64)

5,581

7,705

 

 

 

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY (continued)

as at 30 June 2015

 

 

 

Share
capital

Share premium account

Merger
reserve

Foreign currency translation reserve

Retained earnings

Total

 

 

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 1 January 2015

 

131

1,580

477

(64)

5,581

7,705

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Profit for the financial period

 

-

-

-

-

763

763

Other comprehensive income:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- currency translation differences

 

-

-

-

(108)

-

(108)

Total comprehensive income

 

-

-

-

(108)

763

655

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transactions with owners:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Employee share options scheme:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- new shares issued on exercise

 

1

19

-

-

-

20

- value of employee services

 

-

-

-

-

112

112

- deferred tax credited to equity

 

-

-

-

-

68

68

Dividends paid to owners

 

-

-

-

-

(417)

(417)

 

 

1

19

-

-

(237)

(217)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 30 June 2015

 

132

1,599

477

(172)

6,107

8,143

 

  

General information

 

BrainJuicer Group PLC ("the Company") is United Kingdom resident, and its subsidiaries (together "the Group") provide on-line market research services.  The Company's shares are listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange ("AIM").  The address of the Company's registered office is Russell Square House, 10-12 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EH.

 

The Board of Directors approved this condensed consolidated interim financial information for issue on 24 September 2015.

 

The financial information set out in this interim report does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006 and is unaudited.  The Group's lastest statutory financial statements were for the year ended 31 December 2014 and these have been filed with the Registrar of Companies.  The auditor's report on those financial statements was unqualified and did not contain any statement under Section 498 of the Companies Act 2006.

 

 

1.   Basis of preparation

 

This condensed consolidated interim financial information has been prepared in accordance with IAS 34, 'Interim financial reporting' as adopted by the European Union.  This financial information should be read in conjunction with the annual financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2014, which have been prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the European Union.

 

           

2.   Principal accounting policies

 

The principal accounting policies adopted are consistent with those of the annual financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2014, as described in those annual financial statements.

 

Taxes on income in the interim periods are accrued using the tax rate that would be applicable to expected total annual earnings.

 

 

3.   Segment information

 

When reviewing financial performance, key segmental information that management look at are revenue, gross profit, and operating profit before allocation of central overheads of the Group's geographic operating units ("Reportable Segments"), and the split of business by type of research solution.

 

   

 

Financial performance of

Six months ended 30 Jun 2015

Six months ended 30 Jun 2014

Reportable Segments:

Revenue

Gross margin

Operating profit/(loss)*

Revenue

Gross

margin

Operating profit*

 

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

United Kingdom

3,660

2,918

1,807

4,159

3,198

2,298

US

4,197

3,417

1,807

3,551

2,960

1,591

Continental Europe

2,136

1,620

863

1,736

1,315

447

China & Singapore

781

636

241

787

527

208

Brazil

765

610

267

742

550

264

India

71

53

(40)

222

169

104

 

11,610

9,254

4,945

11,197

8,719

4,912

 

* Segmental operating profit excludes costs relating to central services provided by our Operations, IT, Marketing, HR and Finance teams and our Board of Directors.

 

Revenue split by type of

Six months ended 30 Jun 2015

Six months ended 30 Jun 2014

research solution:

Juicy

Twist

Total

Juicy

Twist

Total

 

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

£'000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quantitative Research

8,551

1,768

10,319

7,656

2,015

9,671

Juice Generation

888

-

888

1,299

-

1,299

Behaviour Change Unit

403

-

403

227

-

227

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9,842

1,768

11,610

9,182

2,015

11,197

Percentage of revenue

85%

15%

 

82%

18%

 

 

Juicy products are BrainJuicer's innovative methodologies that challenge traditional approaches to market research.  Twist products are industry standard quantitative research methods with an added BrainJuicer "twist".

 

Segmental revenue is revenue generated from external customers and so excludes intercompany revenue.

 

A reconciliation of total operating profit for Reportable Segments to total profit before income tax is set out below:

 

 

Six months ended 30 Jun

 

2015

2014

 

£'000

£'000

 

 

 

Operating profit for reportable segments

4,945

4,912

Central overheads

(3,771)

(3,376)

Operating profit

1,174

1,536

Finance costs

(35)

(16)

Profit before income tax

1,139

1,520

 

 

4.   Earnings per share

 

(a)  Basic earnings per share

Basic earnings per share is calculated by dividing the profit attributable to equity holders of the Company by the weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue during the period:

 

 

Six months ended 30 Jun

 

2015

2014

 

 

 

Profit attributable to equity holders of the Company (£'000)

763

1,018

 

 

 

Weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue

12,654,587

12,592,609

 

 

 

Basic earnings per share

6.0p

8.1p

 

(b)  Diluted earnings per share

Diluted earnings per share is calculated by adjusting the weighted average number of shares outstanding assuming conversion of all dilutive share options to Ordinary Shares:

 

 

Six months ended 30 Jun

 

2015

2014

 

 

 

Profit attributable to equity holders of the Company and profit used to determine diluted earnings per share (£'000)

763

1,018

 

 

 

Weighted average number of Ordinary Shares in issue

12,654,587

12,592,609

Share options

887,843

931,157

Weighted average number of Ordinary Shares for diluted earnings per share

13,542,430

13,523,766

 

 

 

Diluted earnings per share

5.6p

7.5p

 

 

5.   Dividends

 

On 12 May 2015 the Company paid a final dividend of 3.3 pence per share, amounting to £417,000, in respect of the year ended 31 December 2014.  In October 2015, the Company will pay an interim dividend of 1.0 pence per share, amounting to £127,000, in respect of the year ended 31 December 2015 (the same as last year's interim dividend).  This interim dividend is not recorded in these interim accounts.

 

  

 

6.   Net cash generated from operations

 

 

Six months ended 30 Jun

 

2015

2014

 

£'000

£'000

 

 

 

Profit before taxation

1,139

1,520

Depreciation

67

99

Amortisation

161

115

Interest paid

35

16

Share-based payment expense

112

67

Decrease in inventory

73

41

Decrease in receivables

1,541

1,339

Decrease in payables

(1,942)

(2,603)

Exchange differences on operating items

88

(5)

Net cash generated from operations

1,274

589

 

 

7.   Share capital

 

During the reporting period the Company issued 81,895 Ordinary Shares ("shares") on the exercise of employee share options for cash consideration of £19,779 of which £18,960 was credited to share premium and £819 to share capital. The weighted average share price at exercise date was 407 pence per share.

 

During the period, the Company awarded 137,040 nil cost stock options to each of its executive directors (John Kearon, James Geddes and Alex Batchelor) under the long-term incentive scheme established in 2014 and approved at the Company's annual general meeting on 12 May 2014.  The Company awarded the remaining nil cost stock options under the scheme (amounting to 60,000 options to each director) after the end of the reporting period.

 

At 30 June 2015, the Company had 13,223,762 Ordinary Shares in issue (31 December 2014: 13,141,867) of which 509,268 were held in treasury (31 December 2014: 509,268), and the Company had 1,468,797 stock options outstanding of which 1,057,677 are fully vested.

 

 

  

 

8.   Related party transactions

 

During the period the Company paid the following dividends to directors:

 

 

Six months ended 30 Jun

 

2015

2014

 

£

£

 

 

 

John Kearon

127,380

578,999

James Geddes

5,225

23,749

Alex Batchelor

3,361

15,278

Ken Ford

660

3,000

Robert Brand

990

4,500

Graham Blashill

165

750

 

137,781

626,276

 


This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
 
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