Micro Focus share price boosted by newly acquired HPE software figures

Shares in Micro Focus, the FTSE 100 tech firm are on the up after it unveiled figures for its newly acquired business.

A deal to buy the software business of Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) for $8.8bn (£6.8bn) was completed last week.

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Shares were up more than seven per cent in early trading, the FTSE’s biggest riser, despite warning that HPE software revenue would be less than expected for the year at between $2.89bn and $2.96bn.

“The reduction in adjusted revenue from the 12 months ended 31 July 2017 is driven by the active reduction of less profitable professional services in sub-scale service lines and geographies together with lower licence revenue offset by increasing SaaS [software as a service] revenue and support revenue being broadly flat,” the company said.

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It added that just two months of the HPE software revenue will be reported in its six month results due to be reported at the end of October.

For the 12 months to the end of July, adjusted revenue was down three per cent, while operating profit was up seven per cent in the same period with its profit margin rising to 26.6 per cent, up from 23 per cent a year earlier.