CPP Group ditches weaker offshoots in bid for higher profits
CPP Group has undergone a string of disposals over the last year under a new board and executive team, in a bid to grow its profits.
The group, which sells so-called ‘life assistance’ products like cybercrime solutions, continued to climb further into profitability over the last year, with pre-tax profit growing from £900,000 to £4.2m.
The London-listed group bumped its revenue up five per cent to £143.6m in the year to 31 December, up from £136.5m in 2020.
The Leeds-headquartered company, which bought travel insurance firm Alpha Underwriting in January, disposed of its “historically loss-making” business in China at the beginning of the year.
CPP also sold off its legacy German card protection business for £2.4m during 2021, while it restructured its business in Mexico and shut down its legacy business in Malaysia.
The restructuring has continued into 2022, with the company already winding down other parts of the business.
While the company has been on the up, CPP has halved its dividend in the 12-month period, falling from 25p in 2020 to 12.5p last year.
CEO Simon Pyper said that despite the Covid-19 headwinds and simplified its operations, “there is still much to do, the changes introduced in 2021 have allowed the group to refocus on its core operations in India and Turkey, and on its digital rich Blink parametric business”.
“The board is evaluating the change management programme, introduced by the previous management team, to ensure that the various projects are consistent with the group’s new ‘direction of travel’ and moreover, that the benefits assumed are realisable.”