Member Article

Utilitywise profits take 40% dive while 75 jobs are cut

North Tyneside energy company Utilitywise has revealed it expects to report a 40% drop in pretax profits when it announces its full year results in October later this year,

Whilst the company’s board says it anticipates to report a 3% revenue increase, the considerable profit drop is attributed to major problems with a supplier which will see Utilitywise return £7.6m after a projected underconsumption of services.

Meanwhile, the business has introduced a ‘number of planned productivity improvement initiatives’, which saw it cut 75 jobs from its sales force headcount which shrunk to 550 staff from 625.

Commenting on trading, Brendan Flattery, CEO of Utilitywise, told investors: “Although the Company endured some headwinds in the period which impacted our financial performance in the short term, there have been a number of underlying improvements in the business which auger well for the future.

“Productivity gains in our Enterprise Division, which represents the majority of our profits, have led to a significant increase in our order book.

“Looking forward, our revenues and profits will now be more closely aligned to our cash generation, and the secured future revenue balance of £46.1m at 1 August 2017 gives us increased visibility of future performance.

“With our portfolio of energy services and strong customer service, Utilitywise has a solid platform for future growth. I look forward to providing further details in our year end results statement in October.”