Financial highlights
Revenue at constant currency increased by 1.8% compared to 2013. Revenue was 3.8% higher in the second half than the first on an organic and constant currency basis
Order intake for the full year was encouraging. Book-to-bill ratio was 1.02 times with all geographies above 1.00 times and a year-end order book at constant currency circa 9% above that at the end of 2013
EBITA margin for the full-year increased 40 basis points to 12.8% (2013: 12.4%). The EBITA margin in the second half of 2014 was 13.0%
Reported results were impacted by a strong sterling against most currencies during 2014. Relative to 2013, the impact of foreign exchange translation was an adverse movement of £52.3 million on revenue and £7.9 million on EBITA
Cash flow from operations remained strong at £120.0 million (2013: £127.0 million). Net debt at the year end was £207.0 million (2013: £186.5 million). Net debt to EBITDA ratio at the year end was 1.4 times (2013: 1.3 times)
The Group has booked a £51.9 million charge before tax in the income statement (2013: £12.9 million) in respect of a number of specific adjusting items, details of which are provided below. Due to the nature of these items they are excluded from the underlying profit figures. The cash cost of these items in 2014 was £5.3 million with a further cash cost of £6.6 million expected in 2015
Proposed final dividend increased to 7.0 pence per share (2013: Final 6.7 pence per share), which would result in a full-year dividend of 10.9 pence (2013: 10.5 pence), a 3.8% increase
