Shares in Gamma Communications PLC dropped on Tuesday as pretax profit for 2021 fell despite revenue growth, due to a one-off gain in 2020 from the disposal of The Loop.

Shares in the London-based cloud communication services provider were 6.2% lower at 1,417.06.00 pence on Tuesday morning in London.

Gamma’s pretax profit was £67.2 million last year, down 10% from £75.0 million in 2020. Gamma said its 2020 figure for pretax profit was boosted by the gain made from the sale of The Loop, a Manchester-based fibre business.

On an adjusted basis, pretax profit increased 21% to £77.2 million from £61.7 million in 2020.

This was on revenue that grew 14% in 2021 to £447.7 million from £393.8 million in 2020. Gamma cited a mix of organic growth and acquisitions in the UK, while saying the European businesses prospered from a full contribution made from acquisitions including Vox Telecom and HFO.

Gamma declared a final dividend of 8.8 pence per share, bringing the total payout for 2021 to 13.2p, a 13% increase from 11.7p the prior year.

Looking ahead, Gamma said it is positive about its outlook for 2022 and beyond, noting the continued demand across all markets and ongoing growth in UCaaS product sales, as businesses start to move towards more flexible working environments.

‘Despite the economic and business market impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, our performance was very robust throughout the year, driven by excellent partner and end-customer engagement levels, and a continued acceleration to cloud based products and services. We delivered strong unit growth across all key products. Our newly launched bolt-on products and services have achieved attachment rates in line with our expectations,’ said Chief Executive Officer Andrew Taylor.

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