Telecity to pay dividends

Data centre provider Telecity's full year results came in slightly ahead of expectations, and 2012 looks like being another strong year, with the group seeing strong demand across all of its markets.

Revenue in 2011 rose 22.1% to £239.8m from £196.4m the year before, and slightly ahead of market expectations of £238.0m. Over 90% of the group's revenue is recurring.

Adjusted profit before tax rose 26.3% to £67.0m from £53.0m in 2010, more than a million quid above the £65.7m expected by the market.

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Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved by 27.2% to £106.2m from £83.4m, while adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) jumped 11.1% to 24.1p from 21.7p the year before, despite the company paying a full tax charge this time round. The market had been expecting EPS of 23.84p.

UK EBITDA rose 17.8% to £50.9m in 2011 from £43.2m in 2010 while the Rest of Europe EBITDA soared 37.3% to £55.3m from £40.2m the year before.

"We have entered 2012 in a strong position, with a solid opening order book and pipeline of new opportunities from new and existing customers. Demand for premium data centre capacity is strong across all of our markets and I am confident that 2012 will be another strong year for TelecityGroup," revealed Michael Tobin, Chief Executive Officer of Telecity.

The group is expecting to continue generating substantial operating cash flows, most of which will be invested in its capacity expansion programme, whether through acquisition or more organic means, but the company said it will find some money for its inaugural dividend payment at the interim results stage.

Initially, TelecityGroup intends to pay out a ratio of around one-fifth of adjusted EPS and it will seek to grow annual dividends at least in line with earnings, so on that basis, had Telecity been paying dividends this time round it would have paid out around 4.8p.

The acquisitive company, which splashed out on two acquisitions last year, said net debt was £164.0m at the end of 2011, up from £56.8m at the end of 2010.

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