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Iomart Group PLC cut its final dividend on Tuesday, as annual profit growth trailed revenue and earnings per share declined, while the cloud computing company also announced a new chair. Glasgow, Scotland-based Iomart said pretax profit edged up 2.8% to £8.7 million in the financial year that ended March 31 from £8.5 million the year before. However, basic EPS fell by 9.4% to 5.8 pence from 6.4p. Revenue rose strongly, increasing by 9.9% to £127.0 million from £115.6 million, but cost of sales, administrative expenses, and finance costs increased as well. Iomart declared a final dividend of 3.0p, cut by 14% from last year’s 3.5p. This gave a full-year dividend of 4.94p, down 9.2% from 5.44p. Iomart said the payout represents the maximum under its dividend policy of paying up to 50% of adjusted diluted EPS. For financial 2024, this was 9.8p, down 10% from 10.9p. Looking ahead, Iomart said trading in the first two months of the new financial year has been in line with board expectations. Iomart also said it has hired Richard Last to be its independent non-executive chair, starting on Wednesday. Last’s arrival will allow Lucy Dimes to revert to chief executive officer only, giving up the additional role of chair. Last is currently chair of Tribal Group PLC and Gresham Technologies PLC, as well as a non-executive director of Corero Network Security PLC, all fellow London listings. Iomart shares were down 5.6% to 136.00 pence on Tuesday afternoon in London. Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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