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LONDON (Alliance News) - Cloud computing company Iomart Group PLC Monday said it has started 2015 in a strong position and expressed confidence for growth for its current financial year, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for its recently ended financial year.
For the year to end-March, Iomart posted a pretax profit of GBP10.8 million, up from GBP9.7 million, as revenue rose to GBP65.8 million from GBP55.6 million, although this was partly offset by a rise in depreciation and amortisation of acquired intangibles.
In its Hosting segment revenue rose 23%, despite losing some customers during the year who have experienced funding difficulties or who have dropped out of the markets or become acquired. This has led to some additional customer churn and pricing pressure at contract renewal, which has hit its organic growth, Iomart said.
Excluding acquisitions, revenue growth in the Hosting segment was 9%.
Revenue in its Easyspace segment fell 2% to GBP10.8 million from GBP11.0 million.
Iomart proposed a final and total dividend of 2.50 pence, up from 1.75 pence a year before.
In December 2014 the company acquired ServerSpace, and said this acquisition has performed well, with integration well underway. On Monday it announced the acquisition of London based IT consultancy SystemsUp Ltd.
Iomart said it is "generating substantial amounts of operating cash", and it is continuing to look for businesses that fit its acquisition criteria, Iomart said, with the aim of making further acquisitions during the year.
The company said that trading since its year end remains encouraging and in line with expectations.
"We are working hard to ensure we remain at the leading edge in terms of the skill sets and experience to provide an ever more complex set of services to our customers and are confident of our abilities to do so, reinforced by the acquisition of SystemsUp in recent days. We are well positioned for further significant growth," said Chief Executive Officer Angus MacSween in a statement.
Shares in Iomart are trading down 7.3% at 215.00 pence Tuesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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