Stagecoach Theatre Arts has lifted annual profits 89 per cent to £707,000 pre-tax and predicts further growth.

Surrey-based Stagecoach, which runs the UK’s largest franchise network of part-time performing arts schools for children aged between four and 16, says franchise fees rose 7.5 per cent to £28.5 million in the year to May, as worldwide student numbers grew 3.6 per cent to 40,600. Earnings surged 200 per cent to 5.1p a share and the company proposes to return to the dividend lists with a payout of 2p a share.

Chairman Graham Cole says Stagecoach has restructured formerly unprofitable areas of operation and declares that  the company has ‘yet to see any negative impact from the widely reported fall in consumer confidence’. At 68p, still below their 2001 float price of 93p, the shares have speculative appeal.

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Stagecoach Theatre Arts	AIM	£5.34m	54.00p	0.00p
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