Utilitywise sees 'significant' FY revenue growth despite challenges

(ShareCast News) - AIM-listed Utilitywise said on Monday that despite challenges in the period, revenue growth for the year to the end of July was expected to be "significant".In a trading update for the year, the company said it expects revenue of at least £82m versus £69.1m the year before.Adjusted group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is expected to be more than £18m compared to £17.8m in 2015, while net debt at year end was £200,000 versus £6.7m as progress with improved commercial terms in its Enterprise division yielded some improvement in cash flow. The utility cost management consultancy said its Enterprise division continued to grow its contracted customer base, with customer numbers up 21% to 30,552 and around 75% of revenues coming from new customers.Future secured revenue was £25.6m as at 31 July compared to £24.7m at the end of January.The company said that as announced at the half year, staff attrition has continued to be a challenge. Although the actions taken to address the staff attrition are well underway, it has had an impact on the performance of this Enterprise division in the period.Meanwhile, the Corporate division has traded "satisfactorily" and as with Enterprise, the business is going through a major transformation as it builds upon the t-mac acquisition to provide the wider Energy Services capability.Chief executive Geoff Thompson said: "Whilst we have seen significant revenue growth and increased customer numbers in the period, it has been a challenging year with staff attrition in the Enterprise division resulting in a weaker overall performance than we would have liked. "We continue to drive the transition within the two divisions and focus them on the longer term objective of building our Energy Services offering with a large customer base and adjacent revenue streams. The new management team will soon be complete and we look forward to the future with a great degree of confidence."At 0900 BST, shares were down 8.6% to 130.28p.