Chippenham-based specialist IT and software firm SciSys today shrugged off an 11% fall in half-year pre-tax profits – partly caused by customers delaying spending until after the Olympics – and stressed it would comfortably meet market expectations for the full year.
The firm, which serves a range of sectors spanning space and defence to media, said its trading outlook remained positive despite the fluctuating euro/sterling exchange rate being a potential concern as a large part of its revenues are earned in euros.
It said it had implemented currency hedging arrangements to protect its euro earnings and cash deposits from any further deterioration in the exchange rate this year. It also said it continues to search for acquisitions to accelerate growth.
Pre-tax profits fell from just over £1m to £934,000 on revenues down 10.8% to £19.6m – with exchange rate fluctuations, contract timings and lower hardware sales largely to blame. It said a number of key customers deferred spending decisions until after the London 2012 Olympic.
However, margins continued to improve in its core professional fees while it performed strongly in the government & defence and broadcast sectors.
Orders at the end of July stood at £25.3m, an increase of 8% on the same time last year.
Chairman Mike Love, pictured, said: “Following a stronger-than-anticipated first half of the current financial year we are now expecting a more balanced second half performance.
“We are particularly encouraged by the continued improvements in margins in our core professional fees; this is the key metric which we measure our business by. With a healthy order book and pipeline we look well set to deliver further progress in the second half of
The firm also secured the first new tenant at its building on Chippenham’s Methuen Business Park, which it bought in May last year.
Its media & broadcast division gained from the Icelandic national broadcaster RÙV in Reykjavik extending its existing audio-archive system, while the government & defence division started work on the Warrior replacement programme and was awarded a contract to support the delivery of a major element of the UK MOD’s CubeSat mini satellite research programme.
The space division, as part of the European Space Agency, completed a ground-breaking demonstration of an autonomous Mars Rover navigation system in the Atacama Desert, Chile.
