LONDON (Alliance News) - Portfolio analysis and asset pricing services company StatPro Group PLC on Wednesday said its pretax profit was down, in line with its expectations, in the first half of the year due to investments the group is making in the business as it transitions to become a purely cloud-based services provider.
StatPro's pretax profit for the half to the end of June fell to GBP820,000 from GBP1.1 million in the year earlier half, in line with a rise in operating expenses for the group as it invests in the business.
Revenue fell to GBP15.4 million from GBP15.7 million, but the group's annualised recurring revenue stood at GBP28.6 million at the close of the half, up slightly from GBP28.4 million a year earlier. Recurring revenue from its StatPro Revolution cloud-based product rose by 61% in the half and now accounts for 23% of total recurring revenue, up from 15% a year earlier.
The group said its forward order book grew 4% in the half to GBP37.0 million, it added.
It will pay an interim dividend of 0.85 pence per share, flat year-on-year.
"We have maintained our high levels of recurring revenue and driven sales in our cloud-based service, StatPro Revolution, to both our existing customer base and a range of new customers," said Chief Executive Justin Wheatley.
"With our forward order book of contracted revenue continuing to grow and the momentum that StatPro Revolution is developing, we remain on course to establish the group as a lower cost, higher margin pure cloud-based business," Wheatley added.
Shares in StatPro were down 1.3% to 78.00 pence on Wednesday.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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