FINANCE: Serviced office provider Regus saw its pretax profit flatline in the six months to 30 June as a strong pound cancelled out gains from its international operations.
Pretax profit stood at £31m, down slightly from £31m for the corresponding period last year.
Chief financial officer Dominique Yates said: “The movement in exchange rates during the period reduced reported revenue, gross profit and operating profit by £65.9m, £16.2m, and £8.5m respectively over the corresponding period last year, with the strengthening of sterling against the US dollar having the greatest impact.”
However, the company remains bullish on growth, planning to open a further 450 centres to its existing 2000 by the end of 2014, up from its previous estimate of 300.
This will eat into profit in Regus’ full-year results, warned chief executive Mark Dixon.
Regus ploughed £148.5m into expansion in the first half of the year, opening 194 business centres and entering three new markets – Botswana, Bangladesh and Namibia.
In the UK, Regus added 75 centres to the network in the first half, increasing the number workstations by 15.7% from 58,360 to 67,523.
The company will pay a dividend of 1.25p per share in October, up 14% from that paid at the end of H1 2014.
Net debt currently stands at £161.3m. The company secured additional financing of £170m through the issuance of loan notes during the period.
sophia.furber@estatesgazette.com
