Fidessa launching £17m special dividend despite sterling impact
TRADING technology firm Fidessa posted a nine per cent drop in full-year profit yesterday as a strong pound offset gains from otherwise improving market conditions.
Fidessa, which helps process transactions worth $15 trillion (£9.75 trillion) a year, said its profit fell to £39.1m for the year ended 31 December from £43.1m in 2013.
“While the business saw a return to underlying growth the exceptional strength of sterling during the year, as highlighted in the interim results, more than offset this growth and affected the reported numbers,” said chief executive Chris Aspinwall.
Revenue fell a per cent to £275m and Fidessa also announced a special dividend of 45p per share returning a total of £17.09m.
“The outlook builds on previous commentary to indicate that 2015 will benefit from lower attrition and improved new business ‘supported by the current sales pipeline’ thus management expect a ‘gradual increase in our growth rate’,” wrote Numis analyst David Toms. Shares fell 2.6 per cent to close at £24.05.