LORD Hollick's money-broking and media group MAI, whose #292m
acquisition of Anglia Television was at the centre of the Lord Archer
share dealings inquiry, disappointed the market yesterday with its
annual results to June 30 despite reporting strong growth in all
businesses.
The focus for dissatisfaction was an exceptional write-off of #16.8m
on the sale of poor performer Safeguard Insurance Services which meant
that profits before tax were restricted to #87.9m, up from #80.2m.
However, after stripping out exceptionals, profits ahead of tax and
interest advanced 21% to #96.7m on turnover 34% ahead at #709.7m
The dividend total is hoisted 13% to 7.8p with a final of 5.8p on
earnings per share up 16% to 18.4p.
None of which was enough to stop the shares slipping 23p to 255[1/2]p.
MAI said that in active financial markets the money and securities
business achieved an overall profit of #61.2m, an increase of 9%.
Volumes in the securities-broking markets, which were particularly
active in the first half of the year, slowed after the US interest rate
increase in February.
By contrast, money-broking volumes rose as the year progressed. The
strong cash flow generated by the broking businesses continues to
finance MAI's high level of investment in technology, training, product
development and increased geographic coverage.
Another plus for the group was Wagon Finance where good growth in car
sales and a reduction in the level of bad debts lifted profits by 24% to
#11.4m
The introduction of insurance products over the last few years has
significantly increased non-lending income.
There was a good showing, too, from the information division as
economic growth at home and in the US boosted demand and profits soared
35% to #10.8m.
In television, Anglia, which was acquired in March, contributed #5m
out of a total of #8.7m with the remainder coming from Meridian.
Investment plans for MAI for the current year total #56m. At the end
of June, the group had net cash and liquid investments of #31.7m and
other investments, including properties, of #124.3m.
This strength, along with the company's high cash flow, will support
the planned expansion of its financial services, information,
broadcasting and programme production businesses.
Chairman Sir James McKinnon commented: ''With volumes in the financial
markets remaining below the exceptional levels achieved in the months
preceding the tightening in February of US interest rates, the emphasis
in the current trading period is on gaining market share and controlling
costs.
''The outlook for television advertising, motor car finance, and
information sales is encouraging.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article