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Cohort PLC on Wednesday upped its interim dividend, thanks to growth in revenue and profit, as well as its ‘record’ order book. In the six months ended October 31, the Reading, England-based defence and security technology firm reported that revenue jumped 22% to £94.3 million from £77.5 million a year earlier. Pretax profit in the period more than doubled to £3.7 million from £1.1 million. On the back of the results, Cohort upped its interim dividend by 10% to 4.70 pence per share from 4.25p. ‘The increase in the interim dividend reflects the board’s confidence in the group’s growth prospects and continued commitment to a progressive dividend policy,’ it said. Looking ahead, Cohort noted its ‘record’ order book, which stands at £353.9 million. The company pointed out that of this over £90 million of revenue is deliverable in the second half of financial 2024. Taking into account revenue recognised in the first half, this covers over 95% of consensus forecast revenue for the full financial year, Cohort added. The company left guidance unchanged, though, saying that in line with previous experience, it expects a ‘stronger’ performance in the second half. Chair Nick Prest said: ‘Strong order intake has driven a record closing order book which underpins most of the second half of this financial year. Consequently, in line with previous experience and given the 95% visibility the current order book gives us over current year forecast revenues, we anticipate a stronger performance in the second half and thus remain on track to achieve our expectations for the full year.’ Shares in Cohort were up 0.2% to 534.99 pence each in London on Wednesday morning. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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