DotDigital earnings hindered by soft performance from newly acquired unit

(Sharecast News) - Software-as-a-service provider DotDigital saw earnings grow in line with expectations during the first half of its trading year as a lacklustre performance from a recent acquisition offset strong performances elsewhere.DotDigital saw revenues grow 33% across the group to rech £24.9m, or 15% to £20.1m on an organic basis, partly due to its 30% revenue bump in the US to $4.3m.However, the AIM-listed group told investors that adjusted EBITDA would be in-line with market expectations as an outperformance by its core business had offset much of the shortfall in revenues fr recently acquired Comapi as a result of "challenging retail market conditions".DotDigital's cash balance soared 58% to £16.6m.Chief executive Milan Patel said: "I am pleased to report strong growth in our core business as we continue to win market share, despite a challenging retail backdrop in H1 2019.""Alongside our organic growth strategy, we will continue to look for acquisitions that are either earnings enhancing or strategic in nature which can add to platform capabilities or assist us with market share and people in geographic territories that are strategic to us."DotDigital also revealed that it will pay a 16% higher year-end dividend of 0.64p per ordinary share for the year ended 30 June 2018 on 31 January.As of 1120 GMT, DotDigital shares had slipped 4.76% to 78.10p.