Paragon Entertainment swings to full year profit

14th Jun 2016 15:54

(ShareCast News) - Paragon Entertainment, an attraction, design and production company, swung to a profit in 2015 on the back of higher revenue. Gross profit grew by 29% from £1.53m in 2014 to £1.97, as revenue increased 10% from £7.7m to £8.5m.Earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to £238,000 from £84,000 in 2014.The company posted its first profit of £601,000 since being admitted to AIM in 2011. Earnings per share came to 0.32p from a loss of 0.52p in 2014.Gross margins increased from 19.8% to 23.2%, which is under the five-year average margin of 27.9%.The company's results were supported by the sale of its loss-making attraction in Merry Hill, Birmingham in early 2015, and the settlement of disputes with a client and HMRC regarding an old tax liability.In 2015 Paragon designed and built several attractions including Land of the Lion, Exhibitionism and Hamleys Prague. The company are also currently working on Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar attractions in the Middle East.Paragon anticipates for the fiscal year 2016 that £9m of the company's turnover will come from repeat partnership business which will amount to 82% of revenue guidance for the year. In 2015 the company won and completed projects worth £7.4m.Chief executive Mark Pyrah said: "Although global investment markets have had a rocky start to the year, we remain busy, growing and profitable."We are in this fortunate position partly because of our investment in partnerships over the last three years, partly because we have corrected a number of issues, and partly because our industry is growing."Executive chairman Mark Taylor added: "During 2015 we were successful in closing out a number of legacy challenges. Paragon moved into profitability at every level of measurement for the first time since AIM admission in 2011 and we have now laid a solid foundation for the business to resume its growth."