Record revenues for Aveva

25th May 2011 07:18

Engineering software firm Aveva registered record revenues in the year ended 31 March, helped by a strong performance in the emerging markets, mainly driven by growth in the oil and gas sector.Organic revenue grew 14% to £168.4m, but after contributions from acquisitions (£5.6m), total revenue jumped by 17% to £174m, from £148.3m previously, beating expectations of around £167.4m.The group said that Oil and Gas was mainly attributable to the rise, which represents around 45% of total revenue."Population and GDP growth are the drivers for energy demand and as the highly populated Asian countries grow, their demand for energy will increase substantially. China spent $40bn on energy assets in 2010 with demand set to surge by 75% by 2035," said chief executive officer Richard Longdon. Aveva said there has no impact on business from events in Japan.However, the recovery in the Marine business - which accounts for a quarter of sales -was slow as expected, with the group highlighting a rise in the number of Oil and Gas-related projects in many of its Marine customers.Meanwhile, reported pre-tax profit was shy of estimates of £55.2m, coming in flat at £49.8m (£49.6m). Earning per share grew by 3% from 49.36p to 50.85p.Operating expenses jumped by a quarter from £68.7m to £85.7m, partly driven by a 34% increase in research and development costs."We are entering 2011/12 with confidence that the momentum which has been building in the latter part of 2010/11 will continue and that our organisational improvements will help deliver strong organic revenue growth in the coming year," said Longdon.Aveva have recommended a final dividend per share of 14.89p, up from 13.9p previously, bringing the total dividend to 18.25p per share, 8% higher than the previous year (16.9p).---BC