Commercial laundry company Berendsen, which has agreed to be taken over by French rival Elis, posted a 5.6% drop in half-year profit on Tuesday amid a deteriorating UK performance.
In the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit fell to £56.8m from £60.2m on revenue of £575.1m, up from £533.5m. The group lifted its dividend per share by 5% to 11p.

Berendsen said that as expected, the UK continued to be hit by operational issues identified in the second half of last year, with underlying revenue down 2% and adjusted operating profit in the textiles parts of the workwear, healthcare and hospitality business lines down by 30%.

The group said adjusted operating profit for the full year 2017 is expected to be around £150m, while profit for next year is expected to come in at approximately £170m.

"The group has made good progress implementing the Berendsen Excellence strategy in the first half of 2017, particularly with actions to address the three root causes of poor and deteriorating operating performance in the UK. There is still a lot of work to do during 2017, as we continue to implement the group strategy.

"We continue to expect tangible benefits to start coming through in the second half of 2017. The acceleration of investment in people, processes, systems, plant and machinery will ensure that the group enters 2018 with the ability to capture the significant opportunities we have identified."

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