Shares in RM jumped on Thursday following the company's announcement that it had returned to profit for the year ended November 30th 2012.

Despite a decline in revenue and an increase in sales, the group delivered a profit of £8.75m (2011: loss of £23.38m) after reducing its operating and other expenses.

The adjusted operating profit came in at £13.6m, compared to £14.1m the previous year.

Revenue for the year fell to £288.69m from £350.79m a year earlier, while the cost of sales rose to £217.87m from £260.11m in 2011.

The final dividend payment was increased to 2.25p (2011: 1.53p).

Chairman Martyn Ratcliffe, who announced that he is planning to step down from the board in the summer, said: "The past year has been one of significant change within RM and the Board is pleased with the progress made, particularly in the context of public sector budget constraints.

"Following the restructuring in 2011, the increased focus on working capital resulting in a very strong cash position at the year end and the launch of some exciting new cloud-based products in 2012, RM now has an excellent platform for the future as a leading provider of products, solutions and services into the UK education market.

"Progress against the board's objectives has been very positive. The disposal of loss-making and non-core business activities was completed in the first half of the year, realising cash receipts of £6.3m since the strategic review in September 2011.

"The redundancy programme achieved the necessary streamlining of the group, reducing headcount from 2,699 in September 2011 before the strategic review, to 2,250 in November 2012.

Cash and equivalents at the year end totalled £37.8m, up from £11.3m at the 2011 year-end.


Specialist asset manager Ashmore Group increased its dividend following a 'satisfactory' financial performance for the second half of 2012.

The group raised its dividend 2.3% to 4.35p per share as assets under management increased by 11% to $71.0bn as a result of net inflows and positive investment performance. Continued net inflows climbed 60% to 1.6%.

Basic earnings per share rose from 13.83p in 2011 to 13.92p.

Chief Executive Officer, Mark Coombs, said the company took advantage of emerging markets amid political events, central bank intervention and continued anaemic growth of developed countries.

"Ashmore's experienced investment team has a 20 year track record of investing successfully in these markets, and with a broad and diverse range of themes available to clients the Group is well positioned to benefit from rising demand for the attractive risk-adjusted returns available from emerging market asses," he commented

Despite the raised dividend, the company reported a 7.3% drop in profit before tax of £120.2m and a 10% decrease in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of £114.1m. The EBITDA margin remained unchanged at 70%.

Coombs said heightened volatility resulted in strong investment performance.

"At December 31st 2012, 89% of AuM [assets under management] had outperformed relevant benchmarks over one year and 88% over three years," he said.

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