Admiral Plc’s half year results continued the company’s success, with a 46.4% growth in pre-tax profits to ?3.2m, on turnover that grew 38.7% to ?24.6m. The Camberley, Surrey-based company, not noted for its reckless abandon, recently went on a bit of a spree, purchasing The Training Centre Ltd for ?1.3m, Sumlock Legal Ltd for ?168,000, and Hay Logic Ltd for ?60,000. These contributed ?1.6m turnover and ?217,000 to group operating profits, in the half year. The purchase of The Training Centre has taken Admiral into the face-to-face training market for the first time, and since the acquisition it has won a contract with Barclays Bank, one of Admiral’s oldest customers, to provide computer training. While in buying Sumlock Legal, the company has a first product to sell, Amicus, the Practice Management software package. The company does not plan any further immediate acquisitions, but is well aware that leaving ?3.9m in the bank is not a very attractive option at the moment. It is looking to expand operations in Singapore and Australia to the point of critical mass, around 40 to 50 staff in each office, and both expanded faster than the rest of the group, in the last six months and both were profitable in the half. The company will pay a dividend of 2.5 pence, up 25%.
