Cerillion FY profits jump amid rise in new orders

Customer relationship management software solutions provider Cerillion posted a jump in full-year profit on Monday and hiked its dividend as new orders rose.

In the year to 30 September, pre-tax profit pushed up 36% to £2.4m on revenue of £18.8m, up 8% on the previous year. Recurring revenue was up 17% year-on-year to £5m and new orders rose 78% to £23.3m.

Software revenue, including software-as-a-service, was up 40% to £9.1m. The increase was put down to major new deals signed with new customers as well as licence extensions with existing customers. Software revenues accounted for 48% of total revenues, up from 37% in 2018.

Four "major" new enterprise customers were signed during the year, with contract values ranging from £3.7m to £5.3m.

The company proposed a final dividend of 3.3p per share, taking the total dividend for the year to 4.9p up 9% from 2018.

Chief executive officer Louis Hall said: "Cerillion has delivered a strong performance with revenue, pre-tax profits and new orders all achieving record highs. The four major new customer wins continued a trend towards larger deal sizes with larger customers and stand us in good stead for further new wins.

"Three of the four were signed in the second half, increasing our back-order book to a new high. With a further major new win secured in October, we start the new financial year with greater revenue visibility than at the beginning of any previous financial year."

At 1100 GMT, the shares were up 3.2% at 192p.

House broker Shore Capital said: "The results support our view that Cerillion remains well placed in its chosen field with a strong back order book and new business pipeline at the start of the new financial year.

"We have raised our forecasts for FY20F, which anticipate revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth of 8% and 21% respectively."