Shareholders in Birmingham-based distribution business UK Mail will enjoy an increased dividend following a hike in turnover and profits.
The Heartlands company, which appointed a new operations director last month, said today its final dividend for the year to April 2014 would increase by 14.5 per cent to 14.2p per share, giving a dividend increase for the year of 13.3 per cent to 21.3p.
Group sales climbed from £475.4 million to £508.5m, operating and pre-tax profit both rose by £5 million to £22.7 million and £22.8 million respectively.
In a statement to the stock exchange today, UK Mail said its new hub and automation projects were progressing well as were its new product and service offerings including imail and ipostparcels.
Chief executive Guy Buswell said: "These results reflect an excellent year for UK Mail, with increased revenues and strong margin progression.
"We have also achieved profitable growth across all areas of the business. Such a robust performance shows that we have accomplished almost all that we set out to achieve through the programme of investment and change over recent years.
"As previously announced, we have now entered a new phase of significant investment, in a new automated hub, in additional capacity, and in further developing our range of innovative consumer-facing services.
"This strategic approach will position us well for the next stage of profitable growth, with the benefits expected to be seen from 2015 onwards."
