Key Financial Metrics

  • £1,665.2m REVENUE (FULL YEAR 2024)

  • +4% ORGANIC REVENUE GROWTH (FULL YEAR 2024)

  • £333.9m ADJUSTED OPERATING PROFIT (FULL YEAR 2024)

  • +4% ORGANIC ADJUSTED OPERATING PROFIT GROWTH (FULL YEAR 2024)

  • 20.1% ADJUSTED OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN (FULL YEAR 2024)

  • +3% INCREASE IN TOTAL ORDINARY DIVIDEND (FULL YEAR 2024)

10-year financial history

  2024  2023  2022 2021  2020 
Revenue  £1,665.2m £1,682.6m

£1,610.6m

£1,344.5m £1,193.4m
Operating profit £304.6m £284.4m £318.8m £320.9m £249.0m
Adjusted operating profit* £333.9m £349.1m £380.2m £340.3m £270.4m
Adjusted operating profit margin* 20.1% 20.7% 23.6% 25.3% 22.7%
Profit before taxation £258.9m £244.5m £308.1m £314.5m £240.1m
Adjusted profit before taxation* £288.2m £309.2m £370.6m £333.9m £261.5m
Profit after taxation £191.4m £184.0m £225.0m £234.9m £173.9m 
Adjusted cash from operations £291.5m £281.7m £214.9m £277.7m £275.8m
Cash conversion 87.3% 80.7% 56.5% 82.0% 102.0%
Capital expenditure to sales†† 5.6% 6.3% 7.3% 4.8% 4.2%
Basic earnings per share 259.6p 249.5p 305.1p 318.3p 235.5p
Adjusted earnings per share* 286.3p 312.4p 377.2p 338.9p 256.6p
Dividends in respect of the year £121.6m £117.8m £112.0m £100.2m £87.0m
Dividends in respect of the year (per share) 165.0p 160.0p 152.0p 136.0p 118.0p
Net assets £1,209.2m £1,157.7m £1,169.8m 1,010.0m £852.3m**
Return on capital employed† 39.2% 41.6% 53.3% 59.3% 48.9%**
Return on invested capital† 13.4% 14.0% 19.0% 22.9% 17.8%**


2019 2018  2017 2016 2015
Revenue £1,242.4m £1,153.3m £998.7m £757.4m £667.2m
Operating profit £245.0m £299.1m £198.9m £174.1m £142.8m
Adjusted operating profit* £282.7m £264.9m £235.5m £180.6m £152.4m
Adjusted operating profit margin* 22.8% 23.0% 23.6% 23.8% 22.8%
Profit before taxation £236.8m £288.8m £192.5m £171.4m £139.7m
Adjusted profit before taxation* £274.5m £254.6m £229.1m £177.9m £151.1m
Profit after taxation £167.0m £223.4m £157.9m £121.3m £96.7m
Adjusted cash from operations £238.1m £242.9m £203.8m £185.0m £146.2m
Cash conversion 84.2% 91.7% 86.5% 102.4% 95.9%
Capital expenditure to sales†† 5.0% 3.8% 3.8% 5.7% 5.0%
Basic earnings per share 226.2p 303.1p 214.4p 165.0p 129.9p
Adjusted earnings per share* 265.7p 250.0p 220.5p 171.5p 142.6p
Dividends in respect of the year £81.1m £73.6m £64.4m £55.8m £50.6m
Dividends in respect of the year (per share) 110.0p 100.0p 87.5p 76.0p 69.0p
Net assets £826.3m £766.9m £609.5m £524.4m £398.3m
Return on capital employed† 52.5% 51.6% 49.8% 44.8% 41.1%
Return on invested capital† 19.0% 19.3% 22.6% 28.7% 27.1%

 

* All adjusted profit measures exclude certain items as set out and explained in the Financial Review and in the Appendix to the Financial Statements

** 2020 has been restated following the IFRS Interpretations Committee agenda decision on configuration and customisation costs in cloud computing arrangements (Software as a Service (SaaS)), see Note 1 to the Financial Statements for further details

† The results for 2019 to 2024 exclude the impacts of IFRS 16, which was adopted in 2019

†† Capital expenditure excludes IFRS 16 Lease repayments