Ingenta to hike dividend after year of growth

(Sharecast News) - Publishing and media software and service provider Ingenta said in an update on Wednesday that it expected to report revenue of £10.8m for 2023, reflecting 3% growth year-on-year.

The AIM-traded firm said adjusted EBITDA was expected to reach £2.2m, making for a 10% increase, while EBITDA was projected to be 25% firmer at £2m.

Profit before tax was estimated to be £1.7m, up 42%, while the year-end cash balance was anticipated to have risen 13% on the year to £2.7m.

Earnings per share were expected to be 13.6p, marking a substantial rise of 51%, while the board projected a full-year dividend of 4.1p, making for 16% growth.

In line with its previously-communicated intention to implement a progressive dividend policy, Ingenta's board said it intended to pay a final dividend of at least 2.6p per share for 2023, rising from the prior year's figure of 2.25p.

"2023 represents another year of revenue growth for the group, and encouragingly, this has been generated from new customer wins on our Edify digital content distribution platform," said chief executive officer Scott Winner.

"New sales activity was weighted to the second half of the year but we successfully deployed two sites in the first half and commenced a further 4 in the second half of 2023

"These multi-year deals accounted for approximately £0.5m of implementation revenues in 2023 and will drive our recurring revenue into 2024 and beyond."

Elsewhere in the business, Winner reported the addition of three new customers onto its IP management platform.

"These deals are for music and media partners across the globe and add further momentum behind our expansion into adjacent vertical markets."

At 1515 GMT, shares in Ingenta were down 10.23% at 157.09p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.