Financial markets software specialist First Derivatives (FDP) delivered more eye-catching growth at the full-year stage – helped by customers' increased regulatory needs and a client focus on keeping costs down. Adjust for a bad debt hit from a legacy contract and underlying pre-tax profit rose 6.7 per cent in the year to £7.8m.
The consulting division boosted revenue by 27.1 per cent in the year to £41.5m. This business offers clients an on-site service and significant savings to handle the storage of trading data, as well as managing legal and compliance functions. That offering is proving increasingly attractive for financial customers where outsourcing to low-cost overseas locations hasn't been particularly successful. The division added 15 big financial sector clients in the period, including a major US investment bank. Meanwhile, the software unit – which offers products to analyse large data volumes in short time periods – increased revenue by 11.4 per cent to £15m, with recurring revenue up 36.2 per cent. Indeed, in December, Australian regulators chose the group's Delta Stream product to help monitor markets – the Singapore Stock Exchange is another of the group's clients.
Broker Panmure Gordon expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £10.6m for 2014, giving adjusted EPS of 42.6p (from £8.8m and 39.1p in 2013).
FIRST DERIVATIVES (FDP) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 568p | MARKET VALUE: | £101m | |
| TOUCH: | 560-575p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 630p | LOW: 471p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.0% | PE RATIO: | 19 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 221p* | NET DEBT: | 56% | |
| Year to 28 Feb | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 17.5 | 4.46 | 22.8 | 9.00 |
| 2010 | 25.5 | 5.65 | 27.1 | 9.50 |
| 2011 | 36.7 | 6.50 | 33.2 | 10.15 |
| 2012 | 46.1 | 6.95 | 36.0 | 11.15 |
| 2013 | 56.5 | 6.16 | 30.2 | 11.50 |
| % change | +23 | -11 | -16 | +3 |
Ex-div: 26 Jun Payment: 26 Jul *Includes intangible assets of £37.5m, or 211p a share | ||||
