|
RWS Holdings PLC on Thursday lowered its dividend as debt grew, and warned of a £2 million foreign exchange hit to full-year profit. In response, shares in the Maidenhead, England-based language services and artificial intelligence solutions provider slumped 15% to 87.85 pence each in London on Thursday. RWS said its pretax loss narrowed to £9.5 million for the six months ended March 31 from £12.7 million a year prior. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew 20% to £45.7 million from £38.1 million. Revenue climbed 4.6% to £360.3 million from £344.3 million, with organic constant currency growth of around 7%, accelerating from 1.4% a year ago. This was supported by an ‘exceptional’ performance in the TrainAI business. RWS cut its interim dividend by 29% to 1.75 pence per share from 2.45p a year ago, while net debt grew to £32.5 million from £25.4 million. Last December, RWS announced it was re-basing its dividend to ‘align shareholder returns more closely with sustainable profit performance.’ On Thursday, RWS said it aims to maintain a progressive dividend going forward. Despite the higher debt, RWS said remains well-capitalised with ‘strong cash generation and significant liquidity, supported by our revolving credit facility.’ The RCF was refinanced last October. The company said it has made a good start to the second half, but said current foreign exchange rates, after, hedging, are expected to have a £2 million adverse impact on full-year pretax profit. For the full-year, it expects mid-single-digit revenue growth on an organic constant currency basis, improving profitability, and continued strong free cash flow conversion, benefitting from recent client wins, growth in Generate and Protect and efficiencies. In the financial year ended September 30, 2025, RWS reported revenue of £690.1 million, a pretax loss of £99.7 million, adjusted pretax profit of £60.4 million and free cash flow of £80.1 million. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
|
