Office boom fuels rise in profits at workspace provider Regus
Regus shares climbed higher yesterday after the workspace provider posted a 67 per cent jump in annual profits and hiked its dividend.
The company, which has over 2,700 centres across across 977 towns and cities worldwide, reported pre-tax profits of £145.7m in 2015, on sales up 15.9 per cent to £1.9bn.
Underlying earnings per share rose by 51 per cent to 11.2p and the company raised its dividend by 13 per cent to 4.5p.
Regus launched 554 new locations last year, targeting new workplaces such as universities and public libraries while also expanding into travel hubs such as train stations and airports. The company envisions eventually having 20,000 centres across the world.
The the US, its biggest market, like-for-like mature revenues increased by 3.9 per cent at constant currencies to £712.1m as Regus added 180 new office sites and expanded the number of workstations from 131,665 to 149,414.
Like-for-like sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa rose by 5.5 per cent to £321.2m while in Asia, Regus' fastest growing market, it added 146 new locations boosting revenues by 3.9 per cent to £239.1m. It now has 545 centres in the region, including its first workspace in Dubai.
UK mature revenues increased by 3.7 per cent to £352.9m and the group added 45 new locations including its first co-working space on London's Oxford Street.
Regus chief executive and founder, Mark Dixon, said: "We remain confident in our business model and the long-term structural drivers of our industry. We will continue to invest to increase our levels of customer service, make our business relevant to a wider market, drive greater operational efficiency and deliver long-term shareholder value."