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Best of the Best to pay special dividend
Best of the Best announced a special dividend after the prize competition operator posted annual profit slightly ahead of management's forecast.
Pre-tax profit for the year to the end of April rose 5.8% to £1.6m as like-for-like revenue rose 13% to £12.25m. Best of the Best said the result was slightly better than its own expectations.
The company, which runs competitions to win luxury cars and other items, said it would pay a special dividend of 4.5p a share on 20 July in addition to the proposed ordinary dividend of 1.5p a share. The AIM-listed company's shares rose 8.7% to 299p at 08:03 BST.
Best of the Best has cut prices for its car competitions, which offer the chance to win Bentleys, Mercedes and other high-end vehicles. The change, as well as adding lower-priced competitions for watches and other smaller items, has attracted more customers. The company has also scrapped sales at airports and other physical sites in favour of online sales and promoting itself on social media and in the press.
William Hindmarch, Best of the Best's chief executive, said: "I am pleased to report continued progress with a solid set of preliminary results showing both increased revenues and profits before tax, which are slightly ahead of management's expectations.
"During the year we made some fundamental changes to our competitions, introducing new prizes and making them more accessible by lowering prices significantly. This has helped with the acquisition of new customers and the retention of existing players, resulting in improved overall revenues. These changes, combined with an increasing marketing budget, mean that we are well placed to make progress in the next financial year, which has had a positive start."