Key Financial Metrics

  • £1,682.6m REVENUE (FULL YEAR 2023)

  • -1% ORGANIC REVENUE GROWTH (FULL YEAR 2023)

  • £349.1m ADJUSTED OPERATING PROFIT (FULL YEAR 2023)

  • -12% ORGANIC ADJUSTED OPERATING PROFIT GROWTH (FULL YEAR 2023)

  • 20.7% ADJUSTED OPERATING PROFIT MARGIN (FULL YEAR 2023)

  • 5% INCREASE IN TOTAL ORDINARY DIVIDEND (FULL YEAR 2023)

10-year financial history

We have an excellent track record, delivering a consistently strong financial performance, achieving underlying revenue growth.

  2023  2022 2021  2020  2019 
Revenue  £1,682.6m

£1,610.6m

£1,344.5m £1,193.4m £1,242.4m
Operating profit £284.4m £318.8m £320.9m £249.0m £245.0m
Adjusted operating profit* £349.1m £380.2m £340.3m £270.4m £282.7m
Adjusted operating profit margin 20.7% 23.6% 25.3% 22.7% 22.8%
Profit before taxation £244.5m £308.1m £314.5m £240.1m £236.8m
Adjusted profit before taxation* £309.2m £370.6m £333.9m £261.5m £274.5m
Profit after taxation £184.0m £225.0m £234.9m £173.9m  £167.0m
Adjusted cash from operations £281.7m £214.9m £277.7m £275.8m £238.1m
Cash conversion 80.7% 56.5% 82.0% 102.0% 84.2%
Capital expenditure to sales†† 6.3% 7.3% 4.8% 4.2% 5.0%
Basic earnings per share 249.5p 305.1p 318.3p 235.5p 226.2p
Adjusted earnings per share* 312.4p 377.2p 338.9p 256.6p 265.7p
Dividends in respect of the year £117.8m £112.0m £100.2m £87.0m £81.1m
Dividends in respect of the year (per share) 160.0p 152.0p 136.0p 118.0p 110.0p
Special dividend per share   - - - -
Net assets £1,157.7m £1,169.8m 1,010.0m £852.3m** £826.3m
Return on capital employed† 41.6% 53.3% 59.3% 48.9%** 52.5%
Return on invested capital† 14.0% 19.0% 22.9% 17.8%** 19.0%


2018  2017 2016 2015 2014
Revenue £1,153.3m £998.7m £757.4m £667.2m £678.3m
Operating profit £299.1m £198.9m £174.1m £142.8m £148.1m
Adjusted operating profit* £264.9m £235.5m £180.6m £152.4m £153.0m
Adjusted operating profit margin 23.0% 23.6% 23.8% 22.8% 22.5%
Profit before taxation £288.8m £192.5m £171.4m £139.7m £144.8m
Adjusted profit before taxation £254.6m £229.1m £177.9m £151.1m £151.1m
Profit after taxation £223.4m £157.9m £121.3m £96.7m £100.6m
Adjusted cash from operations £242.9m £203.8m £185.0m £146.2m £131.5m
Cash conversion 91.7% 86.5% 102.4% 95.9% 85.9%
Capital expenditure to sales†† 3.8% 3.8% 5.7% 5.0% 5.0%
Basic earnings per share 303.1p 214.4p 165.0p 129.9p 132.8p
Adjusted earnings per share* 250.0p 220.5p 171.5p 142.6p 140.4p
Dividends in respect of the year £73.6m £64.4m £55.8m £50.6m £139.9m
Dividends in respect of the year (per share) 100.0p 87.5p 76.0p 69.0p 64.5p
Special dividend per share - - - - 120.0p
Net assets £766.9m £609.5m £524.4m £398.3m £441.9m
Return on capital employed† 51.6% 49.8% 44.8% 41.1% 41.4%
Return on invested capital† 19.3% 22.6% 28.7% 27.1% 27.4%

* 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 2023 exclude the impacts of IFRS 16, which was adopted in 2019.
†† Capital expenditure excludes IFRS 16 Lease repayments.