LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Events and publishing outfit Dods Group saw profits tumble in the first half of its trading year, as costs associated with its massive restructuring programme offset a slight increase in revenues.
Dods turned in a 7% increase in revenues to £10.7m in the six months ended 30 September, but in a period that saw a change of chief executive officer and chairman, underlying operating profits tumbled 12% to £1.5m and pre-tax profits crashed 55.5% to £400,000 on the back of its heightened marketing and boardroom costs.

The group said the restructuring investments were necessary steps taken to increase its sales effectiveness and drive further organic improvements, as well as growth through targeted acquisitions. Gross margins were down just one percentage point at 42%.

Simon Presswell, former managing director at Universal Studios and Ticketmaster, was brought in as CEO, with David Hammond, who not long ago led the buyout and subsequent sale of British Car Auctions, replaced Cheryl Jones as chair.

Presswell said: "Since joining the business in July, I have been able to explore our current operations, meet a large number of our customers and see how our staff deliver the excellent service that Dods is known for."

"With such tremendous heritage across our business and a portfolio of existing and new brands, Dods is well positioned to continue to grow our product offering both organically and through acquisitions."

Having secured a number of notable contracts with KPMG, EY, Teva, Roche and HSE and extended a contract with NHS England to provide the NHS Health & Care Innovation Expo in September 2019, while the training division's new contracts included with 10 different Caribbean governments, the European Central Bank and over 220 training workshops to the UK government.

"The group continues to pursue potential acquisitions and has defined a set of acquisition criteria from which the key attributes required can quickly be identified," Presswell said. "In so doing, we believe the group is able to move at speed to identify further opportunities to create additional shareholder value by both bringing scale to existing products and services, whilst entering new end markets and addressing new customers."

As of 0825 GMT, Dods shares had fallen 5.34% to 9.75p.

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