LONDON: Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) reported an increased revenues after it completed an overhaul of the UK business and expansion into the US. The employee benefits provider boosted revenue by 9 per cent to £1.3bn, due in part to a weak sterling resulting in a favourable foreign exchange.
Underlying profit before tax remained nearly flat at £172.6m, reflecting the cost of the JLT’s investment in its US business. Profit before tax dropped 13 per cent to £134.9m and underlying profit margin fell by 0.8 per cent to 15.4 per cent. Over the year JLT completed a turnaround of its UK employee benefits business, which the company believes is now set to deliver revenue growth and profits. The company sold its Thistle UK business, which made an operating loss of £3.6m in 2016 in the parts which were divested.
JLT continued its expansion into the US market, which delivered $56m of revenues last year and is set to make a profit in 2017. Group chief executive Dominic Burke said the company’s final results for 2016 were set against a continued “challenging trading environment”. “The group entered 2017 in good shape, with momentum and confidence that JLT is well-positioned to deliver organic revenue growth more in line with historical rates. I am proud of the achievements and progress we made in 2016 across all of our businesses. The resilience we showed last year positions us very well for further growth,” Mr Burke said. The company paid a final cash dividend of 20.6p, which brought the total dividend paid in 2016 up by 5 per cent to 32.2p.
