Kingston Communications, which is part-owned by Hull City Council, has raised its dividend by two-thirds after an excellent set of interim results. The telecommunications company announced an interim dividend of 0.65p after revenue rose by 8% to £241.9m in the six months to September. ‘This has been a good half-year,' said chairman, Michael Abrahams. ‘Sales momentum has been strong and we have seen continued growth across the business, and we expect this trend to continue in the second half. ‘As a result of the satisfactory financial performance, in terms of profits and cashflow, the board has decided to increase the interim dividend by 66.7%.' The company bought IT consultancy Smart421 in October for £24m to complement its Affiniti sub-division. Chief executive, Malcolm Fallen, added: ‘During the first half, we have continued to anticipate our customers' changing needs and responded positively to the changes in our industry. We have strengthened our managed service capabilities by adding the application integration skills of Smart 421 to our portfolio, providing a complementary fit with Affiniti's network integration skills. ‘Broadband growth has been strong, with our focus on service quality a key to ensuring our proposition delivers value to our customers.' Kingston Communications also launched its new Selfcare system to route calls using standard Internet browser software. Hull City Council has a 31% stake in Kingston Communications. The Carlyle Group announced in April that a takeover bid for the telecoms company was officially off, after failing to agree a price with the local authority. The council made £245m when it was originally floated in 1999.
