IDOX says earnings 'substantially' higher in first half

8th May 2014 13:16

Public sector software specialist Idox said trading was 'very satisfactory' in the first half of the year with earnings 'substantially' higher year-on-year thanks to lower costs and a reorganised Engineering Information Management (EIM) division. Group revenues from continuing operations grew 12% and strong cash generation in the period enabled net debt to be more tahn halved from £19.8m at the year end October 31st 2013, to £8.7m on April 30th. The EIM arm delivered the largest growth, with revenues up 20%, thanks to a comprehensive reorganisation to focus on account management and improved levels of service in its core sectors of oil & gas, infrastructure and utilities. "These customers are showing strong demand for our solutions which meet their current needs for improved efficiency and compliance," the AIM-listed company added.Its larger Public Sector Software division (PSS) delivered "above-trend" revenue growth of close to 8%, driven by an uptake of its managed services offering with five new contract wins, further market share gains, and a focus on add-on services to its existing customer base. Chief Executive Richard Kellett-Clarke said: "The excellent trading improvement across each of our two divisions has been the result of strengthening the management team, improvements in systems and operational disciplines and a focus on back-to-basics following our major acquisition programme up to 2013. "We expect the changes made in the first half of the year to deliver a lower cost base in the second half and further trading improvements in 2015."Shares in IDOX were up 5.1% at 41.63p by 13:03 on Thursday.OH