Red24 hikes divi after successful half

Risk management firm Red24 hailed a strong first half driven by sales of its food safety products.

Overall revenue increased by over 15% to £3.34m from £2,89m, while profit before tax increased by 6.7% to £440,000 from £412,000.

The bulk of this growth came from 'red24 assist', the firm's food safety product, which was launched in the autumn of 2011 and generated £433,000 of revenue in the half year.

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Profit before tax of was up to £440,000 from £412,00 in the first half of 2011, while earnings per share came in at 0.75p , up from 0.73p the year before.

Red24 raised its dividend by 25% to 0.40p, which the firm noted was over four times covered by 2011 earnings.

Chairman Simon Richards said the impact on the firm of governmental budgetary cutbacks in the UK was unlikely to be material, but the outlook for the US dollar could have a negative impact.