Companies: RM.   

Educational IT specialist RM is undaunted by a pre-tax interim profits plunge from £2.2 million to £634,000.

The fully listed company, which is a leading provider of information and communications technology and other products to the education sector, increased turnover by a modest £2.1 million to £117.76 million in the six months to March. However, chief executive officer Tim Pearson says RM won four out of eight contracts awarded under the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ (BSF) project and has raised its committed revenues nearly 27 per cent to £380 million.

In the first half-year, the company lost £483,000 and only made its £634,000 profit thanks to investment income of £1.1 million. Amortisation of acquisition-related intangible assets turn that into a pre-tax profit of only £184,000 against a pre-tax profit of £5.6 million a year earlier, swollen by a £3.5 million exceptional pension credit.

Pearson argues RM now has a ‘significantly improved medium-term visibility of orders’ and the interim dividend is up six per cent to 1.26p a share.

At 207.5p, the shares are up from 2005’s 152p, but below last summer’s 224.5p. They value the company at £193 million.

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