Telit profits whacked by acquisition costs

Annual pre-tax profit more than halved at Telit Communications, a machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless tech firm, after higher costs related to acquisitions. The group, which last month announced a global strategic partnership with Telefónica, said pre-tax profit fell to $2.2m in the year ended 31 December 2011 compared to $6.4m in 2010. Adjusted pre-tax profit declined to $5.7m from $7.1m a year earlier. Telit drove full year revenue 34.7% higher to $177.4m and said the outlook for the remainder of 2012 is positive."2011 results have been affected by significant investment in the cost of integrating the businesses purchased, recruitment of staff and putting in place an operational infrastructure which will provide a base to support growth expectations in the coming years," the group explained.Telit added, "The outlook for the rest of 2012 and the future looks positive for the m2m industry as a whole and for Telit in particular. Notwithstanding the fact we are operating in a competitive environment, we believe we are well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities ahead and believe that our acquisitions in 2011 will strengthen our already strong position within our industry."The group said it is seeking further expansion opportunities through new technologies or by gaining access to new territories and new market segments. Telit is not proposing to pay a dividend for the year.cj