Computer services group Fayrewood, in which Irish entrepreneur Mr Pierce Casey has a 10 per cent stake, has continued to outperform its peers in the technology sector.
The company reported a 33 per cent rise in turnover to €283 million in the six months to the end of October, while operating profits jumped by 86 per cent to €8 million. Pre-tax profits rose to €4.76 million from €1.72 million a year earlier while adjusted earnings per share were up by 260 per cent to 5.84 cents.
Fayrewood, which plans to change its year-end to December 31st, will pay an interim dividend of 0.3 cents per share.
Mr Casey, executive chairman of the company, attributed the strong performance to Fayrewood's ability to increase market share at stable margin coupled with cost reductions.
ComputerLinks, the Neuer Markt-listed computer services group in which Fayrewood has a 51 per cent stake, was also helped by increased sales in the e-security sector while the company's niche distribution business was boosted by the acquisition of UMD in Spain in January this year.
ComputerLinks will move to the main German stock market from February. As a result of this, Fayrewood has decided not to proceed with a distribution of ComputerLink's shares which had been contemplated in a bid to return some of ComputerLink's value to Fayrewood shareholders.
The company also said it raised €7.2 million from the sale and leaseback of a French property near Paris. Over the six-month period, it generated cash of €21.4 million while its total net debt fell to €18.1 million from €33.1 million a year earlier.
