Cash rolls in at K3

K3 Business Technology Group saw profit before tax in the second half of 2009 grow to £3.9m from £3.0m in the second half of 2008, on revenue that advanced to £23.5m from £20.5m.The enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions provider boasted very strong cash generation in the whole of 2009 at £8.92m, compared to £6.38m in 2008, and net debt was cut by 59% during the year from £13.01m to £5.38m.'What is especially pleasing about these results is the number and size of new business wins which the group secured over the year, and especially in the final quarter of 2009. A number of these new contracts we signed for our Microsoft Dynamics and Syspro ERP systems were secured against competition from SAP, IBM and Oracle,' noted Tom Milne, the chairman of K3.K3 is paying a dividend of 0.5p, making the total dividend payment for 2009 0.5p per share, the same as in 2008.In a separate announcement the group said it is acquiring the trade and certain assets of Pebblestone Netherlands, a European provider of Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions for the fashion industry.The company is initially paying €1.4m for the company with an additional €0.6m to follow, spaced out over the next five years. After tax deductions from future years, the total net consideration for the acquisition is €1.5m.In 2009, on a pro forma basis, Pebblestone made a pre-tax profit of €0.54m on revenue of €3.92m.