SDL has ended the year well with revenue c12% up on last year and in the £228.5m to £229m range compared to £203.5m in 2010, with profits before taxation and amortization of intangible assets of £39.5m to £40m, compared to £35.4m last year.
Today’s trading update did not provide the detail behind the top line numbers - those will come with the release of the full results on February 28 – but there were indications that growth is continuing in the content management side of the business. This has become the growth engine for the business, with acquisitions being used to develop the capability. The Calamares acquisition which was closed during the year (see SDL bolsters content management business), added a new dimension to this sector of the business with its video and rich media capability. The somewhat fraught Alterian acquisition (Alterian fought hard to resist SDL, see here), which is expected to close on January 27, will contribute data analytics and social media.
SDL’s combination of translation and content management has been a success story and it has not been troubled by major competition but given Capita’s move into the translation space last month (see Capita spreads into translation market with ALS buy), that could change.