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Ascential PLC on Thursday said it intends to return £850 million to its shareholders as it reported a dive in annual profit amid an optimistic outlook. The London-based events, subscription business and advisory services-focused company said pretax profit dived 57% to £10.6 million in 2023 from £24.8 million in 2022. Revenue climbed 7.9% to £206.4 million from £191.2 million. Finance costs however trebled to £26.6 million from £8.2 million, while cost of sales increased 14% to £74.2 million from £65.3 million. Sales, marketing and administrative expenses increased 2.8% to £101.5 million from £98.7 million. Net debt as at December 31 increased 47% to £318.1 million from £216.7 million a year prior. The company said it intends to return £850 million of value to its shareholders via a £450 million special dividend and a £400 million purchase of shares. Ascential will ask for shareholder approval in May. Chief Executive Philip Thomas said: ‘Looking ahead to 2024, we continue to see positive customer engagement, with booking levels for our events tracking in line with prior year indicators overall...This continuing momentum, following on from our strong post pandemic bounce-back, supports our confidence in our medium-term growth targets and ambitions.’ Ascential shares rose 1.9% to 306.60 pence each on Thursday morning in London. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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