Johnson Service Group's expansion of its textile rental business has helped the group to achieve a strong performance in the first half of 2014.
In the six months to June 30, group revenue increased 5.7% to £101.6million while pre-tax profits rose by 45.5% to £6.4m.
Textile rental revenue increased by 10.1% to £74.4m while adjusted operating profit rose by 25.6% to £10.8m, boosted by the acquisition of the Bourne Service Group in March, which brought an immediate improvement in earnings.
This opened up the high volume hotel linen sector and the group said it would seek further acquisitions in textile rental as it continues to increase its presence in the various sectors. The division also includes Johnson Apparelmaster, which provides workwear rental and laundry services to industry and Stalbridge Linen Services, which offers a premium linen service to the hospitality and corporate events sector.
The traditional drycleaning market remains challenging. The group has closed loss-making branches and is offering drycleaning through customer service desks within the Waitrose supermarket chain. There were a further 29 newly opened Waitrose locations and additional Waitrose locations are planned for the remainder of the year,
