Micro Focus profit up, CFO resigns

24th Jun 2010 07:44

Software group Micro Focus reported a 39% rise in annual profits and announced the departure of chief financial officer Nick Bray.Bray resigned from the board with immediate effect after he said he is in talks with several companies, one of which is a strategic competitor to Micro Focus, that may or may not lead to him accepting a position with one of them. The surprise news hit the company's shares, which are currently more than 12% lower.Adjusted pre-tax profit rose to $160.9m in the year ended 30 April compared with $115.9m last time on revenue up 57% to $432.6m.The group proposed a final dividend of 16.2 cents per share, taking the total proposed dividend for the year up 40% to 21.8 cents per share.Chief executive Nigel Clifford said: "Micro Focus' relevance, resilience and strong cash generation gives the board confidence in the group's ability to continue to deliver superior total shareholder returns going forward." "In the short term the group expects to deliver mid single digit organic revenue growth with the ambition of returning to double digit growth over the medium term, while maintaining adjusted EBITDA margins at approximately 40 per cent."