Last checked at 
LONDON (Alliance News) - First Derivatives PLC on Monday said it expects its full-year revenue and earnings to be "comfortably ahead" of market expectations.
In a statement, the software and consulting services company said it expects to beat current market forecasts for GBP109.5 million of revenue and GBP22.1 million of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
Consulting revenue grew "strongly" in the second half of its financial year ended February 29, First Derivatives said in a statement, driven by a "high level" of contracted revenue and winning new customers. That included projects to assist "major" investment banks with "change" programmes.
There was "strong" demand, too, in First Derivatives' traditional financial services market across the company's range of software products, with a "record" number of contracts signed in the second half. The full effect of those contract wins will come through in the current financial year, it said.
Outside financial services, First Derivatives said it made "good progress" with potential customers and partners for its Kx technology products, especially for digital marketing and sensor analytics applications.
"In consulting our increasing scale and breadth of expertise is enabling us to get involved earlier in the change life-cycle within our clients, leading to deeper and more strategic relationships. In software, our market-leading capability in analysing large volumes of data in real time is increasingly understood and as a result we have experienced an acceleration of contract wins during the past year," Chief Executive Officer Brian Conlon said in a statement.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
