Industrial software specialist, Aveva, faced challenging conditions in the period which hit new licences sales. Accordingly, and after stripping-out exceptionals such as restructuring costs and amortisation, and pre-tax profits slipped 24 per cent year-on-year to £50.7m.
Indeed, Aveva's Asian marine market was hit particularly hard as the ship building industry largely ground to a halt - revenues there slipped 25 per cent to £50.5m. Revenues also fell - by 2 per cent to £70.9m - at Aveva's Europe, the Middle East & Africa unit. Still, the Americas operation delivered a 10 per cent revenue rise to £26.9m and demand is increasing in the oil and gas sectors in Brazil and the CIS, as well as in China's power markets.
Typically robust cash generation saw the group's net cash pile rise by £23.5m in the year and management have responded to pressure to return some of that cash with a much increased dividend payment. "The rebased dividend better reflects the established nature of our business and the strength and stability of our cashflows," said chairman Nick Prest.
Altium Securities currently expects pre-tax profits of £56.2m for 2010-11, giving EPS of 61p - but expects to trim forecasts by about 3 per cent.
AVEVA (AVV) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 1,103p | MARKET VALUE: | £749m | |
| TOUCH: | 1,101-1,103p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,237p | LOW: 581p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.5% | PE RATIO: | 22 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 249p* | NET CASH: | £150m | |
| Year to 31 Mar | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 65.9 | 11.2 | 12.1 | 2.46 |
| 2007 | 94.9 | 24.7 | 26.6 | 4.18 |
| 2008 | 128 | 45.0 | 50.8 | 6.65 |
| 2009 | 164 | 59.2 | 62.3 | 9.36 |
| 2010 | 148 | 49.6 | 49.4 | 16.9 |
| % change | -10 | -16 | -21 | +81 |
Ex-div: 23 Jun Payment: 30 Jul *Includes intangible assets of £28.7m, or 43p per share | ||||
