Consulting and services group says public sector focus has left it 'relatively untouched' by economic turmoil

Mouchel Group said it had been 鈥渞elatively untouched鈥� by the economic slump today as it posted a 45% pre-tax profit drop in its full-year results.

The consulting and business services firm said that pre-tax profit had fallen to 拢26.3m for the year to 31 July 2008, down from 拢48.1m in 2007.

Richard Cuthbert
Cuthbert: "confident that the group will continue to prosper in line with our long-term plans"

However, profit before tax and exceptional items rose 20% to 拢38.8m, compared with 拢32.4m last year. Revenue rose by 46% to 拢657m, up from 拢449m last year.

The firm said it had an order book of 拢2.1bn and a bidding pipeline of 拢2.2bn.

Operating margins fell to 6.4%, compared with 7.4% in 2007, which Mouchel said was a result of the acquisition of HBS, the business processing outsourcing firm it bought for 拢46m in August last year.

Mouchel said it had been 鈥渓ess affected than other businesses by the recent turmoil鈥� because of its focus on the UK public sector and regulated industries. It said that the outlook for the year ahead was good.

Richard Cuthbert, group chief executive, said: 鈥淚mportantly, given the defensive nature of the group's activities, we have been relatively untouched by the recent turmoil in financial markets and the upheaval elsewhere in the economy.

鈥淭he outlook for our growing and increasingly diverse business remains promising and we are confident that the group will continue to prosper in line with our long-term plans.鈥�

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