Focus Solutions magnifies profits

12th Oct 2010 12:55

Financial services software provider Focus Solutions had a better than expected first half, with revenues and profits both up.Sales for the six month period to 30 September 2010 are expected to be about £5.4m, an increase of 25% over the same period last year, with operating profit of more than £1.1 million in the first half, compared to £0.1m in the same period last year.Those projections caught the firm's house broker on the hop. FinnCap had been predicting revenue of £5m and operating profit of £0.5m."Given the increased financial performance during H1 [first half] 2011 and the increased visibility for FY [full year] 2011, we have increased our FY 2011 revenue forecast from £12.8m to £13.4m, PTP [pre-tax profit] from £2.9m to £3.5m and adjusted EPS [earnings per share] from 7.0p to 8.2p," the broker said. The group has had a winning streak on the contracts front which has significantly improved visibility of earnings, with more than 80% of the current year's forecast revenues already booked. As well as enjoying its strongest ever order book the group has a strong pipeline of prospects."We have seen further evidence of the successful re-positioning of Focus Solutions as a product company; deriving a significant proportion of our revenues from high margin license fees, across a range of clients and demonstrating that focus:360° has become the strategic, multi-channel distribution platform of choice for leading financial services organisations," said chairman Alastair Taylor.