The grievous Cobent acquisition (see here) is still causing Access Intelligence problems although following major restructuring the losses associated with it are reducing. But it was still a significant contributor to increased full year 2012 losses at the SaaS-oriented governance, risk and compliance (GRC) provider.
For the year to November 30 2012 Access Intelligence saw loss after tax on continuing operations increase from £91K to £114K. On an adjusted EBITDA level, earnings were down 49% yoy. Cobent (now the AI Talent segment) was not the only problem area though and the end result was that total operating costs rose to £6m (vs £5.2m), although this does include investment in a new development centre.
Access had already signaled that it was sacrificing 2012 profits in order to pull the business back into shape (see here) so the full year results are not a surprise. On a positive note, there are signs that its investments are starting to deliver because revenue from continuing operations was up 11% to £8.05m, including recurring revenue up 16% to £5.6m, and 69% of sales (vs 66%). The top line is growing but there is still work to be done to get the bottom line in order and the lack of forward guidance suggests 2013 will still be a challenge for the company.