RM must try harder in second half

RM has pinned its hopes on the second half of the year after turning in sluggish revenue growth and a slide in profits for the first six months.

The education supplier pulled in revenues of £117.6m for the first half, up just 1.8 per cent on the year. Pre-tax profits were £184,000, compared to last year’s £5.6m. This year’s bottom line was hit by £450,000 in amortisation costs of acquisition-related intangibles, while last year’s was boosted by a £3.5m pension credit.

RM was at pains to point out that, due to the seasonal nature of the education business, “profit in the first half of the year is small relative to that for the year as a whole and is not a good indicator of the outcome for the full year”.

At the same time, it confirmed that the first half’s figures also suffered from “increased strategic project bid costs and some delays in new product and service areas”. It admitted that this means “more to do in the second half than originally anticipated [but] our expectations for the full year result remain unchanged”.

The company saw revenues slip at some of its businesses. Learning Technologies was down from £87.4m a year ago to £81.6m, Assessment and Data Services turned in £7.1m compared to £7.8m last year. Education Resources and Curriculum Software was up from £18m to £26.1m, Education Management Systems stood at £2.9m compared to £2.4m a year ago, while BSF turned over £2.1m, up on last year’s £300,000. ®