The company’s underlying profit before tax was up 7% from £9.6m to £10.3m for the same period last year. Pre-tax profit reached £6.1m, up 22% from £5m (H1 2021).

The Glasgow-based installer of smart meters and provider of other utility and energy management services has benefited greatly from smart meter installations and is well positioned to increase revenues and profit in H2.

The company’s interim dividend has been lifted to 20.265p from 18.750p - a 10% year-on-year increase. A dividend of 30.25p per share is expected for 2022.

Tim Mortlock, CEO, commented: “The strong half year results again demonstrate the resilience of our business model, which is underpinned by our index-linked recurring cash flows from meter and data assets, and reflect the strong performance of our first grid-scale battery storage project.

“We have made significant progress in executing the strategy set out last Autumn. We are pleased to see continued acceleration in our meter installation run rates, an increase in our smart meter portfolio and a new contract which adds to our smart meter order pipeline. Leveraging on our end-to-end platform, we have successfully built and begun to deliver a strong pipeline of grid-scale battery storage projects within a short period of time, with significant additional opportunities from this substantial and growing market.

“Our two recent strategic investments in EV charging infrastructure and energy data are complementary to our existing end-to-end business model and enhance our ability to accelerate other carbon reduction (CaRe) products and services, providing opportunities for further growth over the long-term.

“The global energy market is in a period of extreme turbulence and there is a fundamental need for the CaRe assets we originate and own. These assets enable the transition to a low carbon, flexible, secure and, of particular importance at this time to all businesses and consumers, lowcost energy system. We remain confident about the future growth prospects for the business.”