"The need for data centres and services is only increasing, buoyed by the adoption of new data-hungry technologies such as the Internet of Things, which can only be good news for iomart as it continues to expand.”
source insider
Industry: Cloud News
Iomart eyes more takeovers as £100m sales target in sight
Glasgow-based cloud computing firm Iomart today said it continues to see opportunities to fuel growth through acquisitions as it homes in on an £100m annual sales target.
The company, which has made a string of acquisitions in recent years, today reported a strong first half of the year and said it remains committed to boosting growth through further deals.
Sales in the six months to 30 September grew by 8% to £50.9m. Statutory pre-tax profits fell to £7.3m from £7.8m due in part to better than expected performance from previous acquisitions which led to higher payments being triggered. Underlying profit before tax was up by 7%, to £12.4m.
Chief executive Angus MacSween said he was “very confident” in the group’s future prospects as ever more data is created.
“The world has an almost insatiable appetite for more bandwidth, faster downloads, more applications, which of course creates ever more data to process, store or back up,” he said.
"Iomart's continued strong trading performance is a reflection of the strength of our cloud capabilities and business model, the breadth of our customer base and the ongoing growth of the cloud market.
"The high levels of visibility within our recurring revenue business model and strong cost control provides stability to our trading performance for the second half of the year, ensuring the full year should deliver a similar overall year on year progression as we have reported in the first half.”
Although net debt has increased to £33.6m from £24.5m, the company said it believes that is a “very comfortable level of debt to carry” and pointed out it still has a significant undrawn amount from a £80m credit facility which matures in June 2022.
The company has proposed an interim cash dividend to shareholders of 2.45p, an increase of 9% on the same period last year which it said reflects the board's confidence in the current financial position of the group and future prospects.
Another good set of Iomart results
John Moore, Senior Investment Manager at Brewin Dolphin Scotland, said: “This is another set of good results from iomart, with revenue growth of 8%, adjusted profit before tax up 7%, and an increased dividend of 2.45p.
"Although the shares have had a tough time of late, dropping from a peak of 475p in September, there remains a lot of growth potential in the business and these figures may remind potential investors of that.
