Murgitroyd still has eyes on making fresh acquisitions

MURGITROYD, the Aim-listed patent agency with its head office in Glasgow, yesterday kept open the option of making further acquisitions after it reported full-year results that met market expectations.

The group posted a 12.7 per cent rise in annual turnover to 25.7 million.

Operating profits remained steady at 3.2m while pre-tax profits dipped by 2.2 per cent to 2.9m, a figure which took into account a 200,000 provision relating to the lease of the former Fitzpatricks office in Glasgow.

Without the leasing provision, which the group said has no cash-flow effect, underlying operating profits rose by 6.3 per cent to 3.4m.

Murgitroyd proposed a final dividend of 6.5p, adding to the maiden interim dividend of 3p and compared with a total dividend of 9p in 2007.

In February, Murgitroyd bought Kennedys Patent Agency – a Glasgow-based firm with offices in Aberdeen and Newcastle – for 3.4m.

The group reported that all permanent staff from Kennedys had stayed with Murgitroyd.

Following the acquisition, Murgitroyd now employs 226 staff, including 66 qualified patent attorneys.

Ian Murgitroyd, the firm's chairman, said : "The outlook for patents and trademarks remains positive and, despite an uncertain global economic environment, we remain confident of our ability to generate continued steady growth"

Keith Young, Murgitroyd's chief executive, told The Scotsman: "There are no definite targets at the moment but we are very content to review opportunities as they arise. At any given point, including now, we would be in some discussions with people wanting to sell their practices but 90 to 95 per cent of those will come to nothing because we are looking for fee-earning capacity in a practice from which we can make economies of scale.

"We want people to invest in our firm because of our organic growth, with acquisitions being bolt on advantages."

Nobel, which is Murgitroyd's house broker, said the company was a "well-run defensive business", adding: "We see Murgitroyd utilising its current position to take market share in an industry that continues to show stable underlying growth."

In Scotland, the group has offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, with other UK offices in Belfast, London, Newcastle and York.

On the continent, Murgitroyd has offices in France, Germany, Ireland and Italy, along with a sales office in the United States.

Ian Murgitroyd & Co was founded in Glasgow in 1975, became a limited company in 1993 and was floated on Aim in 2001.