Writtle Half Year Report and Dividend Announcement
Chairman’s Statement – Interim Report 2026
I am pleased to report on our performance for the first half of 2026.
Writtle continued to make good progress against a challenging economic backdrop, with turnover increasing by 4% and headline profit before tax by 18% against prior period. The first half was also notable for the partial exit from the group of two of our Innovation businesses through management buyouts (MBOs), marking our intention to become investors rather than managers in this business group.
Results and Dividends
Turnover for the first six months was £46.48m (2025: £44.54m) and headline profit before tax was £3.18m (2025: £2.68m). The disposal of our majority shareholdings in Epoch and WMH&I generated an exceptional profit of £4.14m. After exceptional costs of £0.15m and the usual goodwill amortisation and share based payment charges of £0.37m, profit before tax was £6.80m (2025: £2.24m).
Net cash on 30 June 2026 was £4.75m (2025: £7.44m)
An increased interim dividend of 10p (2025: 9p) per share will be paid on 30 October 2026 to shareholders on the register at 2 September 2026.
Review of Trading
The performance of our three business groups is shown on page 8 of this report.
Our intention with our Innovation business group is to become investors rather than managers, by inviting managers to consider MBOs, with Writtle retaining minority shareholdings. The market in which our Innovation businesses operate is being rapidly transformed by advances in AI which has led to the major advertising networks embarking on well publicised staff reductions and restructuring. We have not been unscathed having seen profits decline in this business group over recent years. However, we believe nimble and highly motivated management teams can still thrive in this environment and as minority shareholders Writtle can participate in their future success. Epoch and WMH&I completed their MBOs in the first half and are now referred to as associate businesses, and we are currently reviewing options for Seymourpowell and The Team. Our Innovation business group results for the first half exclude performance after a business becomes an associate, so comparisons with prior year are distorted. Nonetheless a profit contribution of £0.93m was satisfactory and Writtle’s share of profits after tax in our associate businesses is reported separately in the financial statements.
Our Implementation business, BRANDED, had an excellent first half. Turnover increased by 13% and profit by 54%, with automation of processes improving margins and capacity. Our US operations reaped the rewards of prior year investment and the opening of a second US office as major accounts came on stream. Our UK business also performed well with particularly strong contributions from our recently expanded facilities for image creation and brand activation. Progress is expected to be maintained into the second half.
Our Instore businesses continued to perform well with turnover up 11% and profit up by 16% over prior year. FERO strengthened its client base in a highly competitive market through quality and speed of delivery backed up by its proprietary workflow system supplied to key clients. FERO now enters its busier half with additional capacity in place to cope with its seasonal spikes in demand, and a good year is anticipated. Arken had another excellent first half and although the second half is not expected to match last year’s due to reduced retailer activity, the full year is expected to exceed our original forecasts.
Corporate Activity
As you can see from our MBO completions, our corporate activity has been mainly inward looking as Writtle consolidates and reinforces its strongest areas. In the current business climate, we see the best opportunities for increasing shareholder value through investment in our Implementation and Instore business groups, rather than seeking acquisitions where opportunities are plentiful but value harder to find. This is something of a change in direction given the success we have had with acquisitions over the past 15 years, but we must react to market conditions and a changing business landscape.
After the period end, on 28 August 2026 Writtle completed the share buyback announced in our Annual Report with 1,063,064 shares purchased for cancellation. Following this, the ownership proportion attributed to each shareholder increased by 16.47%.
Current Trading
Despite a slight slowing of trading over the summer months we anticipate a good full year performance.
Robert Essex
Chairman
25 September 2026