25th Nov 2013 11:59
LONDON (Alliance News) - GB Group PLC said Monday that it is confident it will achieve profits in line with expectations in its second half, as acquisitions helped to more than double its pretax profit in the half year ended September 30.
The producer of software and technologies for customer identification and verification posted a pretax profit of GBP1.3 million, more than doubled from GBP501,000 in the previous year, boosted by its acquisitions of CRD (UK) Ltd in July and TMG CRB at the end of 2012.
Sales costs reduced to GBP6.5 million from GBP7.8 million in the previous year. GB renegotiated its supply and distribution agreements with BT Group PLC last year, meaning that GB group no longer receives a royalty from BT for the use of its technology, but also does not have to pay BT a portion of revenues from transactions through its ID3global identification verification service. This means that although revenues from the agreement have reduced, margins have increased due to lower costs.
Revenue was GBP18.1 million, up from GBP17.7 million in the previous year. A majority of growth came through acquisitions, with organic revenue growth of 3%, GB Group said.
"Our forward momentum is positive and we continue to invest in the development of our products, services and team to maintain this," said Chief Executive Officer Richard Law in a statement. "New versions of our principal tracing and verification services were released at the end of the period under review and we are confident of increased organic growth in the second half of the year and beyond."
Shares in GB Group were trading up 5.6% at 138.85 pence Monday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright © 2013 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Gb GroupBT