Huntsworth to finish year in line with market expectations

12th Dec 2018 09:59

(Sharecast News) - International healthcare and communications group Huntsworth updated the market on its trading for the 11 months to 30 November on Wednesday, reporting that it continued to trade well and expected to reach at least market consensus headline profit estimates for the year ending 31 December.The London-listed firm said trading had been led by continuing strong growth in the medical and immersive divisions, with both showing double digit annual revenue growth.It said the marketing division, led by 'Evoke', returned to like-for-like revenue growth in the second half, posting 2% growth, although as expected annualised revenue performance would decline by around 3% on a like-for-like basis.'Giant' and 'Navience', which the group acquired in the past five months, had both been integrated well and were trading in line with the board's expectations, and were increasingly engaged in joint new business with the broader Evoke group.The board said the communications division continued to trade in line with the board's expectations, with annual revenue decline stabilised at 5%, and the second half margin improved over the first half.Huntsworth said it remained in a "strong" financial position, operating well within its £115m facility, and expected the year-end net position to be around 2x net debt-to-pro forma EBITDA."The group is focused on delivering superior growth led by its healthcare agencies and recent acquisitions continue to complement this," the Huntsworth board said in its statement."Management is confident about the group's future trading and expects continued good growth across all of its businesses into 2019."