(Alliance News) - Alfa Financial Software Holdings PLC on Tuesday lower revenue in the first quarter of 2024, but the company remains confident in its growth forecast for the full-year thanks to the "encouraging development" of its business pipeline.
Alfa Financial is a London-based provider of software for the asset finance industry.
In the three months that ended March 31, the company said it made progress on the launch of its Alfa Systems 6 software platform, scheduled to be released in a series of instalments over 2024.
During the quarter, Alfa Financial launched the second and third instalments, which it said improved the platform's total capability, "open[ing] the functionality up to the US automotive market which increases our addressable market."
Revenue slipped 3.7% to GBP26.0 million in the quarter from GBP27.0 million a year prior. However, Alfa Financial noted that last year's first quarter was a particularly strong comparator, and that recent revenue has suffered as the company focused on ramping up Alfa Systems 6.
Alfa Financial also reported an "encouraging development" of its business pipeline since the publication of its annual results last month.
The company has converted an unnamed "large US automotive prospect" as well as "one very large multi-country European equipment prospect", resulting in a 15% increase in total contract value to GBP190 million from GBP165 million in December.
"We remain very confident in the overall strength of the pipeline from early stage through to late stage," Alfa Financial added.
With trading for the first quarter in line with the company's expectations, Alfa Financial is expecting mid to high-single digit revenue growth in the full year.
In 2023, the company booked GBP102.0 million in revenue, GBP29.6 million in pretax profit, and 7.99 pence in earnings per share, all of which increased from 2022.
Chief Executive Officer Andrew Denton said: "We have had a strong start to the year, securing two exciting new customers and starting work with a number of prospective clients in the late stage pipeline...Additionally, we continue to see strong sequential growth in our subscription revenue stream. As a result, we are well placed to achieve our expectations for the year."
Shares in Alfa Financial were up 1.0% at 174.80 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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Alfa Fin (ALFA)