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Four major contacts enabled Escher, the point of sale software provider to the postal industry, to end the year with a 66% revenue uplift to $23m. PBT was $4.8m but this was a massive 282% increase.
The contracts were with Pos Malaysia, Swaziland Post, Pakistan Post and of course the United States Postal Service (USPS), which was worth $50m (0ver 15 years) by itself (see here). 2012 (to December 31) was the best ever year for new business in terms of customers won and their financial impact but it has cost the business as it has had to scale up operations. Operating expenses increased to $10.2m from $6.7m and are 45% of revenue. General & Admin and Sales & Marketing costs were also up. Escher’s IPO in 2011 was designed to enable further growth and it is delivering that while also growing the bottom line.
It looks like all bar the Pos Malaysia deals were secured in H1. This success will make for a tough H1 comparison in fiscal 2013 but demonstrates the success the company is having in its chosen market. It has new growth opportunities ahead of it too. It is looking at new territories and plans to build out new products. It is also targeting digital mail and is looking at establishing itself as the front office for secure digital mail for governments. It already has the Riposte TrEx digital content delivery platform and says it has made progress with some national postal services. Overall, FY12 was a strong year from a company that is making the postal POS market its own.
