(Alliance News) - Micro Focus International PLC's share price fell after it said revenue had continued to decline in financial 2021, despite narrowing its loss.
The Newbury, England-based enterprise software group said revenue had continued to decline in its year ended October 31, which brought in USD2.9 billion, down from USD3.0 billion the year before. However, Micro Focus noted the rate of decline had improved year on year, dropping by 5% compared to 10% in the previous year on a constant currency basis.
Micro Focus' share price fell by 9.1% to 415.30 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
Loss before tax was substantially narrowed for the financial year at USD517.8 million, from USD2.94 billion in financial 2020. Micro Focus said this was driven primarily by a USD2.80 billion impairment charge against goodwill in financial 2020, which didn't repeat in financial 2021.
Micro Focus proposed a final dividend of 20.3 cents per share, up from 15.5 cents in the previous year. This will bring the year's total to 29.1 cents per share, in line with its dividend policy.
The software company plans to exit financial 2023 with a flat or improved year-on-year revenue trajectory, costs lowered by USD400 million to USD500 million from around USD1.9 billion to USD1.5 billion, and adjusted fresh cash flow run rate of USD500 million.
Chief Executive Officer Stephen Murdoch commented:
"We made good progress in FY21 as we continued to reposition the product portfolio to focus on growth opportunities, restructured the go-to-market organisation and implemented a single platform across the group.
"These customer-centric investments started to deliver meaningful improvements in sales and operating performance, and the sale of the Digital Safe business demonstrated the underlying value of our assets. In addition we announced the refinancing of USD1.6bn of our debt on attractive terms as we continue to reposition and invest in the portfolio."
Micro Focus also announced that Karen Slatford will step down from the board in her position as senior independent director, effective from the annual general meeting on March 30. No decisions have been made yet on who will replace her.
By Elizabeth Winter; elizabethwinter@alliancenews.com
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