Following a testing year for Tribal in FY11 (see Tribal slides on mixed signals), this morning’s trading update seeks to renew confidence in the prospects for the business. Tribal, which is now focused solely on the provision of technology services to education, learning and training providers (see Capita buys Tribal’s health and government business), has revealed a 9% increase in its order book to £193m since the end of the year.
However, domestically the wording of today's statement suggests that things are still tough. According to the release, its Services business in the UK performed “satisfactorily” while the Technology business pipeline remains “resilient”. Not exactly statements to send shareholders jumping for joy. Indeed, it appears Tribal’s growth potential lies outside our shores with "progress" in developing its US and Middle East business for software based education improvement services, and with the Technology business in Australia and New Zealand “continuing to develop well”. The order book, at least, would indicate that diversification into far-flung markets is having a welcome impact.