LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Johnson Service said on Monday that it expects its full-year results to be slightly ahead of current market views as it announced the resignation of chief executive officer Chris Sander after 33 years at the company.
Sander plans to retire in the first half of 2018 and the group said it has already begun the process, both internally and externally, to identify a successor. The company said Sander remains flexible over the date of his retirement in the first half of next year and will remain on hand to assist his successor to ensure a smooth handover.

In its results for the six months to the end of June, Johnson Service said statutory pre-tax profit rose to £12.9m from £9.9m in the same period a year ago, on revenue of £138m, up from £115.7m. Meanwhile, the interim dividend was lifted by 12.5% to 0.9p per share.

Sander said: "Our well planned strategy, combined with continued capital investment driving operational efficiencies, has enabled us to deliver another strong set of results.

"We are well placed to exploit the opportunities that exist within our market sectors and the exceptional performance across all of our brands gives us confidence that this will continue in the second half. We therefore expect results for the full year to be slightly ahead of current market expectations".

The company said that the acquisitions it has made over recent years, and the latest purchase of PLS, based in Scotland, have expanded its services over a wider geographical area and its integration strategy is enabling us to realise material distribution and synergy efficiencies.

"We have further to go in achieving national coverage and we will continue to consider new expansion opportunities. The addition of PLS, together with continuing strong performance across all our existing brands gives us confidence in the second half performance. We expect results for the full year to be slightly ahead of current market expectations."

At 0905 BST, the shares were up 2.6% to 142.50p.

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