Focus Solutions Pretax Pft Up; To Strengthen Europe, Asia Presence

9th Jun 2010 08:29

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Financial services software company Focus Solutions Group PLC (FSG.LN) Wednesday said it plans to strengthen its presence in Europe and Asia this year, as it posted a 15% rise in fiscal 2010 pretax profit and said it is witnessing strong improvements in key markets. The firm said it has entered fiscal 2011 with its strongest-ever sales pipeline. This year it wants to broaden its client base by distributing its solutions through partners and delivering a Software-as-a-Service proposition to smaller adviser firms. It said it there are "significant" opportunities for its solutions beyond the U.K. and Ireland, particularly across Europe and the Asia-Pacific, and it said a key objective this year will be to strengthen its presence in these regions. Focus Solution's pretax profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 rose to GBP2 million from GBP1.8 million a year earlier. Operating profit climbed to GBP2.3 million from GBP1.7 million a year earlier, offsetting a rise in costs. Revenue ticked up to GBP9.9 million from GBP9.6 million. The firm said the solid revenue performance was driven by increased licence sales of its focus:360 software. Focus Solutions said the current year has started in line with its expectations and it expects to benefit from certain regulatory requirements. -By Hannah Benjamin, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9298; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 09, 2010 03:29 ET (07:29 GMT)