Printing.com cautious despite progress, cuts divi

Full year revenue and EBITDA powered ahead at high street printing services firm Printing.com as its MFG acquisition and revenues from the new Template Technology outweighed wider economic difficulties.

The group, which has operations in the UK, Ireland, France, Holland and Belgium, tapped into an annual turnover of £21.77m compared to £17.02m a year earlier following a robust performance from Belgium. EBITDA increased to £3.43m from £2.86m before.

However the Manchester based group warned that with the UK in recession and continued economic uncertainty in the Eurozone, it said it remains cautious in the short term.

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Printing.com also announced that it would slash its dividend payment 19% to 2.55p as it undergoes a capital reorganisation.

"Although the group's balance sheet and cash flow from operations were strong and would have supported a maintained dividend the distributable reserves would not do so for this or appropriate future dividends and it is the board's intention to take the necessary steps to undergo a capital reorganisation to address this issue," it said in a company statement.

Pre-tax slipped 3.8% to £1.26m following costs from software development, the acquisition of MFG and after it bought back rights from Territory Franchisees.

Commenting on the results, chief executive Tony Rafferty highlighted the benefit of the MFG acquisition and the generation of revenues from the new Template Technology. "Despite the ongoing economic malaise, it and has remained profitable and cash generative throughout the period. The robust debut of the new Online Initiatives bodes well for the group's prospects moving forward."

Following the year end, trading has continued at a similar levels across the group's online channels in the Netherlands and Belgium but has been more challenging across the UK's Franchise network, the group said.

BrandDemand continues to gain momentum across the UK month-on-month while flyerzone.co.uk has also seen month-on-month growth.

"We attribute this resilience to the group's Template Technology which will be extended to a variety of other group channels and will, we believe, add to revenues and operating margin," it explained.

CJ