The financial statements within this set of preliminary results cover the 16 month period to 31 December 2004. Comparative figures are shown for the 12 month period to 31st December 2004 and also the year ended 31 August 2003.
Financial Highlights
Ten acquisitions in the last 16 months, substantially integrated and driving profits growth, with organic profit growth in the online business in excess of 40% over the last 12 months.
Six successive quarters of strong online profit growth
Sharp increase in online profitability up over 80% in the last six months of 2004,
Group profits before goodwill amortisation, exceptional items, interest and taxation up steeply to 2.728m, (2.316m for 12 months to 31st December 2004) compared to a loss of 0.398m in the year ended 31 August 2003
Turnover up dramatically to 43.109m (37.352m for 12 months to 31st December 2004), compared with 2.626m in year ended 31 August 2003
Reported operating loss after goodwill amortisation, exceptional items and interest 15.696m ( 13.126m for 12 months ended 31st December 2004) compared to a loss of 5.998m in the year ended 31 August 2003
Following the successful acquisition of Workthing Ltd from Guardian Media Group towards the end of 2004, hotonline is now the UKís leading online recruitment provider by number of unique users. The number of unique monthly online jobseekers registered with the hotgroup has risen to over one million. The very strong growth achieved by the company as a whole saw basic loss per share improve to 8.51p (12 months to December 2004 loss 6.57p, 2003: loss of 12.01p). Adjusted earnings per share before goodwill, amortisation and exceptional items was 1.42p (12 months to December 2004 1.10p, 2003: 2.11p).
Tony Reeves, Chairman and CEO of the hotgroup, said: ì2004 was a strong year for the hotgroup and I am pleased to report a period of good performance. We have substantially integrated all of our acquisitions and we are currently seeing encouraging revenue growth and cost reductions coming from the acquired businesses. As a result, we are expecting improvement in our operating margins. While organic growth is central to our core strategy and philosophy for growing the hotgroup business, acquisition-led growth has been a key driver to stepping up the scale of our operations during 2004 and is likely to remain so in the future.
ìConsolidation has been a key feature of the online sector and the hotgroup has benefited from a number of strategic acquisitions enhancing the Companyís position as one of the UKís leading recruitment specialists. Growth in our online operations continues to exceed expectations, and confirms our belief that the internet is fundamentally transforming the UKís recruitment market more rapidly than ever before. Employers are increasingly aware of the benefits of using online recruitment technology, and traditional recruitment models are also benefiting from the enhanced recruitment technology in which the hotgroup is investing. The group is therefore well positioned to gain as these trends continue. I look forward to the next 12 months with confidence.î
Hotgroup preliminary results for the 16 month period ended 31 December 2004
A year of consolidation and very strong growth
