Craneware profit slips as revenue holds up

10th Sep 2013 07:18

Edinburgh based software company Craneware said full year revenue was marginally ahead of last year, but profit was hit after it failed to secure a major contract.The group, which provides revenue assessing software to US hospitals, said revenue increased 1% to $41.5m for the year ended June 30th 2013. Pre-tax profit fell 5% to $10.6m while basic adjusted earnings per share increased 4% to 32.9 cents.Chairman George Elliott said: "Despite strong growth in the small and medium tier of the market, Craneware did not achieve a significant sale to the larger end of the healthcare market in the year under review via either large hospital groups or other routes to market, such as contracts with IT businesses or consultancies."Otherwise, Craneware said trading in the first few months of the new financial year has been healthy. Chief Executive Officer Keith Neilson said: "Overall group revenue reported in the year was marginally ahead of that of last year, masking the steady growth through the year in sales to individual hospitals, which was very encouraging and a reflection of the more stable trading environment."The strengthening of sales activity has continued and trading in the first few months of the new financial year has been healthy. With a product suite that addresses many of the fundamental financial issues besetting healthcare providers in the US, an invigorated sales team and a more stable trading environment, we are confident Craneware has the platform to deliver increased shareholder value in the years ahead."Cash at year-end increased to $30.3m from $28.8m the year before after returning $4.7m to shareholders by way of dividends.Craneware proposed a final dividend of 6.3p a share, taking the total payment to to 11.5p, up from 10.5p last time.CJ