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RPS Group PLC on Wednesday reported a swing to profit in 2021, through increased demand for the group's services, and a reduction in exceptional items, including restructuring and impairments.
The professional services firm reported a pretax profit of £12.4 million, swinging from a loss of £31.3 million in 2020.
RPS's profit performance was helped by a fall in exceptional expenses to £5.3 million in 2021 from £39.2 million, including reduced restructuring costs and a one-off impairment charge of £25.9 million in 2020.
The impairment of goodwill was related to the Consulting UK & Ireland and North America segments, due to the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fee revenue grew 4.1% in 2021 to £476.1 million from £457.3 million, and was up 5% on a constant currency basis, marking a steady recovery by some markets from the pandemic through increased services demand, particularly in urbanisation and natural resources.
Total revenue rose 3.4% from £560.4 million from £542.1 million in 2020.
RPS resumed its dividend in 2021, with a final payout of 0.44 pence per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 0.70p.
Looking ahead, the group said that trading in 2022 to date has been in line with management expectations. RPS's contracted order book rose 14% on a constant currency basis to £348.6 million as at December 31.
Concerning the invasion of Ukraine, RPS said its Energy segment is the only one that has any exposure to Russia or Ukraine, but it is not currently working directly in Russia.
‘I am pleased with the strong financial and operational progress delivered in 2021 with the much-improved momentum in our business driving these results. Our alignment with the key thematics of urbanisation, natural resources and sustainability has driven strong demand for our services and we have continued to benefit from operating in favourable markets which are seeing significant government and private sector investment,’ said Chief Executive John Douglas.
‘Alongside a robust cash position and significant available debt facilities, we are well positioned to drive further growth in line with our ambition to deliver mid-single digit rates of organic revenue growth and a double-digit operating margin,’ Douglas added.
Shares in RPS were down 3.7% at 105.99 pence on Wednesday in London.
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