(Alliance News) - System1 Group PLC on Wednesday reported an optimistic outlook amid a swing to an interim profit.

The London-based marketing and brand consultancy said it swung to a pretax profit of GBP925,000 in the six months to September 30, from a loss of GBP6,000 a year prior.

System1 shares jumped 20% to 210.10 pence per share on Wednesday morning in London.

The company did not pay any dividend, unchanged year-on-year.

Revenue grew 27% to GBP13.3 million from GBP10.5 million, while cost of sales decreased 17% to GBP1.6 million from GBP1.9 million. Administrative expenses increased 27% to GBP11.1 million from GBP8.7 million.

Looking ahead, the company said that the second half of the year started well and expected second half revenue to exceed that of the first half. Further, gross profit margin to date is "close to that achieved" in the first half, adding that this was "well above recent historic levels."

"Despite a difficult economic environment in some key markets, and challenging conditions for media owners and advertisers, we believe System1 can continue to grow profitably by gaining market share from large incumbents that we believe have less predictive products," the firm said.

Chief Executive Officer James Gregory said: "One year after our strategic review there are signs that the company's fame-building activity and renewed focus on execution are working."

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor

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