Johnson Service Group eyes up more acquisitions off back of strong balance sheet
Laundry company Johnson Service Group plans to continue a series of acquisitions which helped the firm grow profits through 2018.
The services group’s shares rose slightly on Monday as it announced a strong balance sheet, following the buyout of South West Laundry in August.
Read more: Londoners: Now there’s an "Uber for laundry"
The figures
Johnson’s pre-tax profit was £33.1m in 2018, up 6.1 per cent year-on-year from £31.2m. Revenue was up 10.4 per cent, at £321.1m, up on £290.9m the year before.
Net debt rose to £98.4m, up 7.8 per cent on £91.3m in 2017, while dividend rose 10.7 per cent to 3.1p.
A revolving credit facility of £150m was agreed in August, of which £135m runs to August 2022, with a further £15m short term facility expiring in August 2019.
Why it’s interesting
Chief executive Peter Egan told City A.M. the firm intended to continue its plan of selective acquisitions to grow the firm, after moving into south west England with the South West Laundry buyout.
“We’ve got a few more geographic areas still in the UK that we’d like to sit in,” he said. “There are a number of potential acquisitions out there, a number of independents. We still see opportunities for ourselves on the acquisition pipeline.”
“We’re building a plant in Leeds. There are other geographic areas in the south and the north as well.”
The company also has a new high volume linen plant planned to open in Leeds in Spring 2020, in a bid to get a foothold in the city.
Read more: Here's how we tackle the biggest source of microplastic pollution
What Johnson Service Group said
Egan added: “Our strategy of driving the quality of growth organically by investing capital in our operations, coupled with selective acquisitions, has delivered another strong year of substantial growth with both divisions achieving higher levels of new business.
“The combination of these three strands allow us the platform to continue to provide an excellent service to our customer base. We remain confident in the year ahead.”