A strong finish to the year ending March 31 2012 helped Aveva deliver double-digit yoy growth and management says it is confident about prospects for 2012/13 but there are some potential glitches.
The engineering data and design IT systems software provider closed the year with revenue up 13% to £195.5m (organic growth was still an impressive 11%) and profit before tax up 16% to £57.7m. Good though these results were, they were down on the previous year (see Oil and gas powering Aveva), which saw revenue growth of 17% (14% organic).
The adjusted profit before tax margin was only a slither up from 31.4% to 31.8% but did move in the right direction. However, net cash was up 17% to £178.9m so there is plenty in the pot to fund additional acquisitions. Although revenue from the Asia-Pacific region declined 3% (the company expects restructuring work to start paying off in the current year), the tally from the America’s was up 24% (thanks in part to Brazil). EMEA was up 21% to £93.4m. Most of this growth came from central, western Europe and Russia but the UK delivered 13% growth (from £14.7m to £16.6m), although its represents only c8% of worldwide revenue.
Aveva believes it existing power sector customers will provide a base for further growth. Expectations ride on the hope that demand for nuclear power will rise, which carries some uncertainty. The company also needs its Asia-Pacific region to start delivering. While there are growth indicators for the current year there do not appear to be any major operational drivers that point to a major change.