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LONDON (Alliance News) - Craneware PLC Tuesday reported a 10% rise in pretax profit for the first half of its 2015 financial year after revenue increased and costs fell, prompting Craneware to raise its interim dividend.
The company also said it has entered into a strategic partnership with Edinburgh-based health informatics company Aridhia Informatics.
For the six months ended December 31, the automated revenue integrity provider reported a pretax profit of USD5.3 million, a 10% rise from USD4.8 million reported in the comparable period a year earlier. on the back of slightly higher revenue and lower costs.
Revenue for the first half rose 2% to USD21.6 million from USD21.1 million, while its costs of sales and net operating expenses experienced small decreases in the period, leading to an operating profit of USD5.2 million, compared to USD4.8 million.
As a result, the company increased its interim dividend to 6.3 cents per share compared to the 5.7 cents paid per share a year earlier.
At the end of the period, Craneware reported a cash balance of USD36.4 million with no debt.
"Objectives for the second half of the year will be the migration of the first of our products fully onto our Craneware Application Framework for Enterprise architecture, and the building out of the Craneware Health product set for market entry in the next financial year," said Chief Executive Keith Neilson.
Separately, the company said its strategic partnership with Aridhia Informatics will result in Craneware offering Aridihia's core services, which includes its collaborative analytics platform, data science service and app development capability to Craneware's extensive client base on an exclusive basis.
"With solutions that focus on patient outcomes, this partnership supports Craneware's US healthcare offering and extends Aridhia's healthcare client base outside the UK, Australia and Kuwait," said Craneware.
"We are pleased to bring the analytics agility platform to our client base, offering Aridhia's expertise in utilising clients' data to improve patient outcomes," said Chief Executive Keith Neilson.
Craneware shares were trading flat at 530.00 pence per share Tuesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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