APC Technology ends year in line with expectations

Specialist electronic products and components company APC Technology Group confirmed on Monday that its unaudited full year results to 31 August were expected to be in line with management expectations.

The AIM-traded firm said the full-year 2018 results would deliver another year of growth in revenue and profit, describing 2018 as a “transformational year” through the roll-out of its strategy and the acquisitions that had been completed.

It said the positive results had meant that net debt at the end of the year was expected to have decreased to £2.5m from £3.1m, of which £2.3m related to amounts owed under its £6m invoice finance facility with ABN Commercial Finance.

Cash at year-end had increased, and stood at £0.8m from £0.4m.

The board said the integration of Aspen was going “very well”, and the enlarged group was said to already be progressing on driving synergies.

It noted that the enlarged group took bookings of £22.5m in the year to 31 August, representing a “healthy” book-to-bill ratio.

That run rate positioned the group as a “significant player” in the design and specification distribution industry.

Looking ahead, APC said it remained “confident” of further revenue and profit growth in 2019, and remained committed to its three main growth drivers - growth through increased bookings from existing technologies, in particular those that sit in high growth markets; growth through the signing of new complementary product lines; and growth through targeted bolt-on acquisitions.

“2018 has been a transformational year for APC - we have significantly increased the scale and profitability of the business and this means that we can offer an even greater value added service to our technology partners and our customers,” said chief executive officer Richard Hodgson.

“We will continue to pursue our three faceted growth strategy of selling more of the technology and products that we have with our enlarged sales force, of signing new, proven technology partners and through strategic bolt on acquisitions.”