Telecoms and systems group KCOM today reported a dip in half-year revenues and profits but said the results were in line with its expectations.

Group revenue for the six months to September 30 was 1.7% down on last year’s first half, at £185.5m against £188.7m, with pre-tax profit 5.4% lower at £24.7m compared with £26.1m last time.

However, the group said it was making “good progress” towards achieving its strategic objectives with a number of businesses showing strong growth.

These included Smart421, the group’s Ipswich-based systems integration business, which during the period was also awarded “Premier consulting partner” status by Amazon Web Services.

KCOM said: “These results provide evidence of the underlying strength of the group and the significant opportunities we see in the longer term.

“We remain focused on executing our strategy for profitable growth by providing more value added services to existing customers and winning new contracts across all our markets. Alongside this, we will continue our investment in those areas that support scalable and efficient delivery of services to our customers.”

Executive chairman Bill Halbert ? who, the group announced today, it to become chief executive from April 1 next year ? added: “The half year position is encouraging and represents further good progress towards achieving our strategic ambitions.

“We continue to invest in support of the competitive position of our brands, our core IT applications and infrastructure and our broadband fibre deployment.

“While, as expected, this contributes to a short term decline in certain financial metrics, our strategy and plans continue to yield positive results. We remain confident about the group’s longer term prospects and success and expect the full year outturn to be in line with market expectations.”

Under the board room changes announced today, Graham Holden, who has been an independent non-executive director of the group for the past six years, will become non-executive chairman from April.