In late 2015, the Bank of England's chief economist, Andy Haldane, commented that 15m jobs in the UK could be at risk from artificial intelligence. Companies such as Blue Prism (PRSM) are making that a reality. Founded in 2001, it has built virtual 'robots' that are trained to automate back-office tasks in big businesses. The software is building a growing blue-chip customer base, and Blue Prism counts Accenture, Fidelity and npower among its partners.
Blue Prism joined Aim in March last year and has enjoyed phenomenal growth, with its share price a multiple of its original 78p placing price prior to admission. But it's not just the marketplace that's attracting investors: financially, there's a lot to like. Contracts tend to span roughly three years and Blue Prism is paid in three lump sums. As such its performance has good short-term visibility, with a high proportion of recurring revenue (85 per cent, up from 61 per cent a year earlier). In the reported period, total contracted revenue rose from £11.5m to £35.2m, while monthly licence fees rose 143 per cent to £946,000.
Broker Investec sees adjusted pre-tax losses escalating to £8.1m in the year to October 2017, giving a loss per share of 11.7p (from -£4.4m and -6.6p in FY2016).
BLUE PRISM (PRSM) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 490p | MARKET VALUE: | £305m | |
| TOUCH: | 485-495p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 538p | LOW: 82p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 6.2p | NET CASH: | £11.8m | |
| Year to 31 Oct | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 2.95 | -0.3 | na | nil |
| 2014 | 4.49 | -0.2 | na | nil |
| 2015 | 6.06 | -0.7 | -2.6 | nil |
| 2016 | 9.64 | -5.2 | -10.5 | nil |
| % change | +59 | - | - | - |
