About Sthree

CEO's view

Although 2011 was a year of two halves, market conditions remained significantly more robust than those we experienced during the 2008/09 downturn. This provided the Group with a platform that allowed us to deliver a substantial improvement in profitability whilst continuing to invest in the future of the business. In addition to increasing sales headcount significantly, we also opened a further nine offices, bringing the overall total to 60, of which 39 are outside the UK. Notwithstanding this ongoing investment, we were also in a position to reward our shareholders with both a significant improvement in the ordinary dividend as well as through the payment of a substantial special dividend. Overall then, we can regard our results for 2011 with some satisfaction.

Looking forward, whatever 2012 has in store for us, we remain confident that we will make the best of it. We will manage the business prudently but we will not lose sight of the great medium term prospects for our business and, where appropriate, we will invest to ensure that the Group’s future lives up to its potential. We never lose sight of the fundamentals- we are a great business which operates in a very attractive space and so have no question that when sentiment inevitably improves, we will see a rapid bounce back in trading conditions. In the meantime we are an agile, cash rich business with a twenty five year track record of profitability. Our seasoned management team has seen all market scenarios and has become increasingly adept in recent years in driving the best available result from uncertain circumstances.

Russell Clements