Fingers crossed at Misys
When Misys files its results in the next few days there will be one thing on everybody's mind - have the profits managed to recover from the dip they took last year?
Chairman Kevin Lomax and finance director Howard Evans have already given a view on expectations but investors would be relieved to see that the fall in profits – from £113.6m to £97.1m – has somehow been countered.
It has to be said that the signs are mixed. In a statement put out at the end of May the company said that performance had been ‘in line with expectations’. Figures for the software company’s banking and securities revenues were down 13% while the figures for the healthcare division were up 13%. In the company’s financial services division its IFA systems were down 8% because of ‘adverse trading conditions’.
Agreements with three product providers have achieved break-even in the second half of the year with full year investment costs, charged to profit, coming in under £4m.
That said overall divisional profits are predicted to be between 25% and 30% ahead of last year.
As he runs over the sums Evans will be concerned that investors see a positive outcome. Last year’s dip came on the back of a large increase in turnover – from £708m to £850m. Increases like that should be turning in better profits but even if it doesn’t materialise Evans will be keens to show good things have happened.
He will of course be able to show the capture of key customers and the launching of a new business in the banking sector. Order books still look healthy but interim results showed a bit of a decline in revenues.
As one of the stocks in the Accountancy Age/ADVFN index, the Misys share price has fallen substantially since April, though there has been something of a rally in the past few days with the stock rising again. Investors will be looking to see whether the results, out next Thursday, are enough to support that rally.