29th May 2014 14:33
LONDON (Alliance News) - RapidCloud International PLC Thursday expressed confidence for further strong growth in 2014 underpinned by its growing pipeline, although its pretax profit for 2013 was hit by the costs of its initial public offering on AIM last August.
The Southeast Asia-based cloud computing company proposed a final dividend of MYR6.5 million, equivalent to around GBP0.006 per share.
RapidCloud posted a pretax profit of MYR3.2 million, down from MYR3.8 million, despite seeing revenue rise to MYR11.3 million from MYR9.4 million, hit by higher administrative expenses and MYR1.8 million in costs relating to its AIM listing.
It said it had made progress against the strategic objectives it outlined at its initial public offering, including investments in research and development, as well as new product launches.
The company said its expansion into Indonesia was a key target during the year, as it formed a subsidiary in the region, PT RapidCloud Indonesia. The establishment of the subsidiary took longer than expected, it said, due to extensive regulatory procedures. The subsidiary is expected to begin contributing to revenues in the second-half of 2014.
Chairman David Cotterell told Alliance News that RapidCloud had possibly been "a bit ambitious" in its expectations for the subsidiary, and explained that RapidCloud expects to break even in 2014 in Indonesia, if not perform a little better, then "steam on" in 2015.
Outside of Indonesia, RapidCloud plans to expand into Singapore in the second-half of 2014, and has established new headquarters in Kuala Lumpur following its IPO.
The company said it plans to continue expanding into other new territories, whilst simultaneously looking for acquisitions. Cotterell said it could be open to acquisitions in any of the territories it operates in, or is looking to expand into, provided that they meet criteria.
However, Cotterell stressed the importance of having a local office in all of these areas, as its important to have staff who are familiar with the country.
RapidCloud has been rapidly bolstering its sales force during the year, adding 22 new sales staff in Malaysia and other territories, and appointing a country sales manager, a head of sales and a new general manager. Cotterell said that they'd "hired well," although slightly above the level you may expect for a company of RapidCloud's size.
Shares in RapidCloud were trading down 3.4% at 71.00 pence Thursday afternoon.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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