LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Croma Security Solutions on Monday reported a drop in annual profits as revenues inched lower, though the company still upped its dividend.
The security services provider booked a profit before tax of £1.4m for the year ended 30 June, 27% lower than in the year before, as revenue drifted 1% lower to £34.6m.

Even so, the AIM traded company hiked its final dividend by 10% to 1.1p per share, meaning the year's total dividend payout increased from 1.6p to 1.8p.

The drop in revenue came as the business missed out on the benefit of significant levels of short-term, higher margin project work that had boosted results in 2018.

Trading was instead notable for an increase in the levels of contracted work, which jumped from 72% to to 79% of total revenues.

Meanwhile, the newly released PROception package, a service which makes the reception part of a building's security, beat expectations to secure annualised revenues £0.8m in its first year.

Since the end of the year, Croma said an increased requirement for its services has already created a step change in the financial performance of the business due to heightened concern over threats to security of individuals, customers and assets.

Chairman Sebastian Morley said: "While one-off project work distorts comparisons with 2018, the underlying run rate in earnings has more than doubled over the last three years driven by the increase in contracted income. This, together with our progress towards developing a national chain of security centres and the speed with which the PROception concept has caught on, has made this another good year for the business."

Croma Security Solutions shares were down 8.60% at 85.00p at 1112 BST.

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