The strong upward momentum that has been evident at Delcam (see here) is still going strong, with the company reporting what it says are its best ever set of results, for the year to December 31 2012. The key to its success is expansion into new geographies and sectors - without overstretching itself. The net result is that it has set new sales records in each of the last six half year periods.
The developer and supplier of software product development, manufacture and metrology (CAD/CAM) ended the year with a 12% lift in sales to £47.1m. The increase was largely due to increased licence sales (up 16% to £24.5m) which will have a positive follow through on recurring maintenance revenue. Although the yoy revenue increase was shy of the 14% achieved in FY11, strong license sales are a positive indicator. Likewise, strong performance across all regions, including the UK, is a good sign and should help Delcam weather any future regional disruptions. Automotive, aerospace were strong sectors across the year, but so were fashion and healthcare which illustrates the gains from spreading into new markets.
Growth can be expensive but the company has costs under control as indicated by PBT that was up an impressive 54% to £5.1m, with operating profit up £1.8m to £4.9m, and a healthy 10% margin on revenue. It even managed to increase cash over the year by 32%.
Delcam is faring better than sector giant Autodesk, which saw just a 4% increase in FY revenue, a drop in profits, and has issued a weak outlook going into Q1 (see here), and more narrowly focussed Aveva which is steady rather than surging (see here). The one aspect we would pick out at Delcam is the lack of a cloud strategy,