Berendsen profit up, expects better 2012

British textile services firm Berendsen posted a higher full-year profit and said it expected to deliver a better performance in 2012, as it benefited from a recent restructuring and the acquisition of a Scandinavian cleaning business.

Image : Berendsen

Berendsen, which offers restroom cleaning and resupply services, acquired the Scandinavian washroom business of ISS in 2010.

The company, which streamlined its business in 2011, said it entered 2012 in good shape, with the benefits of its strategic initiatives gathering momentum.

Berendsen posted a full-year adjusted pretax profit of 111.8 million pounds ($175.54 million), compared with 97.1 million pounds last year.

The firm said it incurred exceptional costs of 8.5 million pounds in 2011 related to the restructuring.

Revenue at the company, whose operating units trade under the main brands of Berendsen, Sunlight and Spring Grove, rose marginally to 992 million pounds.

Berendsen, previously known as The Davis Service Group, supplies and cleans uniforms for persons in health care, hospitality, clean room, manufacturing, and hazardous environments through 75 service centers in the UK, Ireland, and across Europe.

The cleaning services provider raised its final dividend by 9 percent to 16 pence, taking the total dividend to 23.4 pence.

Shares of the company were trading up 7.7 percent at 497.7 at 0811 GMT on Friday on the London Stock Exchange. ($1 = 0.6369 British pounds) (Reporting by Juhi Arora in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)