21st May 2015 09:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - Lombard Risk Management PLC on Thursday said its pretax profit nearly halved in the year to the end of March as investments in sales headcount offset a rise in revenue.
Lombard, which provides risk management software, said its pretax profit in the financial year was down to GBP2.3 million, compared to GBP4.4 million a year earlier. Revenue increased to GBP21.5 million from GBP20.4 million, but this was offset by a rise in administrative expenses to GBP18.9 million from GBP15.8 million, driven by investments the group had to make to comply with regulatory changes and by a rise in headcount in its sales team.
The company said that while revenue grew to a record level in the year, the growth was lower than its expectations. Recurring revenue increased in the year and the second half drove the growth in the revenue, albeit at a slower pace of improvement than in the second half of its 2014 financial year.
The weaker revenue growth was attributed to regulatory issues, which resulted in contract delays.
Lombard said it will pay a final dividend of 0.045 pence per share, bringing its total dividend for the year to 0.08 pence per share, up from 0.075 pence a year earlier.
Earlier this week, Lombard said Chief Executive John Wisbey would step down, with Chairman Philip Crawford to become executive chairman until a replacement can be found.
Lombard shares were down 2.4% to 11.10 pence on Thursday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Lombard Risk Management