Acquisitions by utilities and airport software provider Gentrack have boosted revenue by more than 40%, and a further 21 customers take its overall global clients beyond 200.
For its year to September, both Gentrack’s revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) grew by 43%, to $75.2 million and $23.9 million respectively.
Without the acquisitions of Junifer Systems, Blip Systems and CA Plus during the year, revenue growth would have been around 18%.
After-tax profit rose 23% on the previous year to $11.8 million.
Gentrack shares rose 6.8% to $6.52 after the announcement, being 67% up on a year ago. It posted a full-year dividend of 12.7c.
Gentrack’s acquisitions were UK billing and customer information systems firm Junifer Systems, bought for $74.6 million, and European airport software developers Blip Systems and CA Plus for about $20.3 million.
Gentrack chief executive Ian Black said the company was targeting ebitda growth of more than 15% during 2018.
"It continues to optimise the value from the recent strategic growth acquisitions, a shift to ‘productised’ offerings, and the expansion of resource expertise to support larger and more profitable projects," Mr Black said.
It foresees continued growth in 2018, driven by ongoing energy and water market reforms in Australia, the UK and Singapore, and says it will expand its R&D programme to deliver against medium and long-term growth strategy, BusinessDesk reported.
"The results follow an intensive year of strategic acquisitions and business integration effort that will enable us to build on the continuous growth since the IPO, and to deliver an increased performance rate across the global utilities and airports businesses," Mr Black said.
Gentrack’s year
• 12 new utility and 9 new airport customers
• 27 customer projects delivered, including Gentrack’s largest utility billing project in Australia
• Expansion of our managed service and subscription-based offerings and investment
• Successful integration of three acquisitions delivering profit expectations
• Total of more than 200 customers in 20 countries, 429 employees across NZ, Aust, UK and Europe
• New market entry: Utilities: Southeast Asia, opened Singapore office. Airports: Greenland, Abu Dhabi, Jersey and Kenya.
SOURCE: GENTRACK
