Aveva records another year of strong growth in revenues, profits; outlook positive
Aveva Group plc, Cambridge-based worldwide provider of engineering data and design IT systems, said its revenue grew 34% to £127.6m and pre-tax profit was up a striking 83% to £45.0m for the year ended 31 March 2008.
The company said the result reflected growth across all its major geographic regions where it continued to see high levels of demand from all key industries. The mix of licence revenue between initial fees and recurring revenue remained in line with prior years, with recurring revenue of £66.1m (2007 - £52.7m) and initial fees of £52.9m (2007 - £34.2m).
The strength of the performance was reflected in another key metric. Net cash in the bank at the year end doubled to £82.8m.
It is another strong result in a long line of them, but Aveva’s share price was down 23p – almost 2% - in early trading, presumably as some speculators ‘sold into the news’. The share price is still close to 52 week highs. The group is now worth around £840m.
Chairman Nick Prest (pictured) said the Group’s “success for many years has been built upon our world leading technologies developed specifically for the design of complex engineering projects, our excellent customer relationships and the quality of staff we employ.
"Looking ahead the Board believes the outlook for the current year remains very positive for the business. The Oil and Gas, Power and Marine industries remain buoyant, driven by high commodity prices and strong underlying end-user demand.
“The strength of our technology and market position combined with our focus on serving the needs of our target industries today and in the future augur well for the continued success of our business."
He said investment over many years in both its direct sales channel and its product suite have been key to its success.
Investment in R&D increased 21% to £21.3m in the financial year. The year saw major new releases of existing products addressing many customer issues in increasingly large and complex global projects. Aveva also invested in new products aimed at existing vertical markets which address how our customers can manage their high value assets through the full life cycle of ownership from the planning and specification stages through to construction, operations and maintenance.
27 May 2008
