It would be good to be able to say the situation at business and IT consultancy Charteris was improving but given the latest trading statement, that’s not to be. The declining revenue trend of the last couple of years (see Charteris charts sliding revenues) continued into H1 2012 (ending January 31 2001) and revenues are expected to be ‘significantly lower’ than the £6.6m of H1 2011.
Cost cutting measures have had some impact on the business and reduced the break-even point. The best that can be said is that the reported operating loss will be of a similar magnitude to the operating loss before exceptional items in H1 2011 (£498K on revenue of £6.6m). That is a good sign, but there is an awfully long way between reducing the relative decline and generating profit. Although it is managing at the moment, cash flow could be a concern so the company is looking into alternative finance options.
The move to focus on Microsoft business solutions, spend-to-save initiatives in the public sector, and private sector consultancy ‘are giving grounds for some optimism’ but this positive indicator is outweighed by management comments regarding uncertainty about the economy and the markets Charteris operates in.
The statement that the company believes it can get back to profitable month-on-month trading - if economic pressures do not increase - sounds plaintive to our ears. It said the same when it released it full year 2011 results. Public sector consultancy is still hard to secure and austerity reigns (see TechMarketView Local Government Dinner Debate). The private sector is still spending and Microsoft’s own sales of Dynamics ERP and CRM were noticeably up in Q2 (see here) so there could be some hope of improvement for Charteris.
The market softened towards the end of 2011 but AIM-listed recruitment software provider Dillistone Group expects pre tax profits to be in line with market expectations. Last year it delivered a 9% lift in pre tax profits. Larger than average order wins have enabled it to start 2012 with record recurring revenues.
2011 will be a flat year for Sopheon with expected revenue of £10.3m (vs £10.5m) and anticipated EDITDA of £1.5m (vs £1.51m). The details will be confirmed when the full year results (for YE December 31 2011) are released on March 22 but the preliminary numbers are no surprise given the tone of its trading statements through the year.
Phoenix says Q3 performance (Oct to Dec) was in line with expectations, as it nears completion of its internal reorganisation. Outlook for the full year is also unchanged. Shares are down 8% in early trading nonetheless, not helped by news of a specific contract that has turned sour.
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Identity management specialist GB Group has had an encouraging third quarter. The three acquisitions that it made last year appear to be integrating well and CEO Richard Law is confident that full year results will be “at least in line with market expectations”. GB Group’s three purchases boosted revenue growth to 20% in the nine months to the end of December taking turnover in the period to £21.2m. Organic revenue growth was a respectable 7% (to £19m). Profitability also appears to be moving in the right direction – operating margins (before exceptional items & share based payments) increased to 11.4% from 6.8%.
Delcam has matched its record breaking H1 with a record breaking H2 (to December 31 2011) despite earlier concerns about the unpredictability of the market (see 