Impellam to resume annual dividend, announces special payment

6th Mar 2023 12:27

(Sharecast News) - Impellam Group confirmed the completion of the sale of the regional specialist staffing and healthcare staffing businesses to Twenty20 Capital on Monday, for £85m in cash on a debt-free, cash-free, normalised working capital basis.

The AIM-traded firm said that as a result, it could declare a special dividend of £35m, or 77.8p per share.

Its board also confirmed that, subject to trading performance, it intended to restart the payment of annual dividends, starting in January next year, at £25m.

That would represent an 8.05% forward yield on the closing share price on 3 March.

Impellam said it was planning to release its results for the financial year ended 31 December on 30 March.

The group said it had a "strong finish" to the year and, as previously announced, expected to report annual gross profit of £315m, making for year-on-year growth of 23.7%.

Annual gross profit from continuing operations was expected to be around £205m, representing growth of 27.3%.

"This strategic realignment enables us to focus our investments on the delivery of digitally enabled, multi-disciplinary workforce and specialist recruitment solutions to our customers in the UK and Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific," said chief executive officer Julia Robertson.

"As an upper-quadrant industry leader in the provision of managed services programmes (MSP), recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), services procurement and recruitment solutions, our unique proposition combines market leading recruitment outsourcing capability with extensive science, technology and engineering talent acquisition expertise.

"The investment case for Impellam is enhanced by this transaction, with greater visibility of future revenue and increased efficiency, led by our virtuosos and underpinned by proprietary digital technology and partnerships with market leading software providers future proofing our services and driving higher margins and return on capital."

At 1439 GMT, shares in Impellam Group were up 2.48% at 704.55p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.