Software and services provider Idox expects FY12 results to come in ahead of forecast, with revenue, EBITDA and adjusted pre-tax profits, all ‘comfortably ahead’ of expectations. Apparently organic growth for the year ended 31 October, has been ‘particularly encouraging’ in both the public sector and engineering software divisions, with both performing ahead of expectations. Including acquisitions, Idox said it will deliver ‘significant top line revenue growth’. This is all very encouraging. Investors thought so too, sending Idox's shares up over 10%.
Engineering information management (EIM) is the area of the business Idox has been focusing recent acquisition efforts. Last month it acquired facilities management software provider FMx£5.6m in cash (see here). Idox hasn’t wasted any time bringing FMx's products into the fold, having already added FMx’s software to its OnAir cloud-based engineering platform. Through this EIM division, Idox plays in the emerging IT-enabled support services (ITeSS) market that we assess in our newly published report, IT-enabled support services: opportunities in a converging markethere. We think this is one of the few buoyant areas of the public sector IT/BP market.