Changeable conditions in the oil sector are benefitting energy sector software and services supplier KBC Advanced Technologies. Oil price volatility, rising demand for oil in the developing world, pressure on oil refining margins in markets where demand is falling (Europe and North America), and skills shortages in some areas, all contributed to support KBC’s activity levels during 2011.
Those factors resulted in a strong FY11 (to December 31 2011) in which revenue rose 5% to £55.7m and underlying profit before tax was up 20% to £5.9 (36% to £4.9m as reported). It was a year of good cash generation too, with the balance up by 29% to £5.8m.
As we noted in Consulting enables KBC to end 2011 on a good note, consulting was an important contributor to the business, particularly in H2. FY consulting revenue expanded 9% from £39.2m to £42.7m. Performance fluctuated across the business and software licence sales fell 6% to £13m, impacted in H1 by events like the Arab Spring, the situation in Libya and the tsunami in Japan but even H2 saw sales slip with several large sales moving across to 2012. A new version of KBC’s Petro-SIM software is now available and allegations that KBC infringed software rights have been dismissed so the software side of the business is positioned to get back into positive growth territory.
KBC is confident it will continue to grow during 2012 but juggling market volatility alongside areas at different levels of maturity will be a tricky task. However, the multi facetted energy market is a hotspot – Brady, the trading, risk management and settlement solutions supplier whose results we reported on yesterday (see here), also had a good year due to its energy-related interests.