A notable feature of today’s H1 results was cautious Anite’s growing level of confidence that it will be able to meet FY13 expectations and deliver sustainable growth over the coming years.
Despite the perennial economic uncertainties, it is benefitting from ongoing mobile growth (smartphones, mobile data, 4G), which is not showing any signs of easing. H1 (to October 31 2012) was ahead of expectations, and delivered a 9% increase in revenue to £61.2m, while PBT from continuing operations shot up c30% from £8.5m to £11.3m.
Once again, handset testing was a driver (even with a strong yoy comparative – see here) with 17% growth to £37.4m, due to demand around interoperability testing and LTE 4G. Revenue from network testing was down 7% to £11.8m, impacted by Euro conversion rates. Adjusted results indicate a 1% rise in revenue. There was movement towards the end of the period, and there are hopes that H2 will continue the trend on the back of demand for Invex benchmarking and 4G momentum. Although the business is starting to benefit from the rollout of LTE 4G networks, it is still an early stage market so Anite does expect to see significant revenue from Network Testing LTE 4G tools until the next financial year. The variable Travel division was in line with expectations and managed a smidgeon increase in revenue (£8.9m vs £8.8m).
The most reassuring aspect of Anite’s results is that with the mobile trend and 4G rollouts – the UK saw its first 4G rollout recently – there is opportunity for future business, main issue is predicting the timing.