SDL profits grow as transformation plans bear fruit
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Wednesday 20 Mar 2019
(Sharecast News) - Software and professional services group SDL said on Wednesday that full-year profit and revenues grew as it made "substantial" progress against its transformation plan and strategic objectives.
In the year to the end of December 2018, pre-tax profit rose to £18.4m from £17m on revenue of £323.3m, up from £287.2m in 2017. Adjusted operating profit came in at £29m versus £24m the year before and the dividend per share was lifted to 7p from 6.2p.
The company said integration of Donnelley Language Solutions was on track and the business has performed to expectations. DLS contributed revenues of £27.8m and adjusted operating profit of £1.8m during the period from 23 July to 31 December 2018.
Chief executive Adolfo Hernandez said: "I am pleased to report a solid improvement in the group's financial performance compared to 2017, with all divisions performing well.
"The actions we took during 2017 helped to deliver this positive outcome. Strategically, we worked at pace to transform our business through the implementation of our Language Services automation programme and investment in technology and services innovation, the benefits of which will also be seen in future periods."
Hernandez said much of the transformational heavy-lifting has now been completed.
"Our key programmes for 2019 include the optimisation of the Helix automation programme; further integration of DLS, innovation in Language Cloud and Linguistic AI; building our premium services and solutions and streamlining our back-office operations.
"Although uncertainty remains as to the outcome of the Brexit negotiations between the UK and EU, the group has adopted an approach that we believe will allow us to manage the risks and opportunities that Brexit brings."
At 1530 GMT, the shares were up 1.1% to 552p.
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