iomart records 121 per cent rise in turnover and delivers maiden profit

iomart Group plc (iomart), the Glasgow based security software and web-services business, has today presented its consolidated interim results for the six month period ended 30 September 2004.

Financial highlights
-total turnover at 6.4m, up 121 per cent on previous year with annualised revenues at c. 18m
-maiden profit for the period of 167k and fully diluted earnings per share of 0.24p (adjusted EPS 0.50p)
-minority interest in iomart Internet Limited acquired at a cost of 2.2m
-net cash inflow from operating activities and cash of 2.1m on hand

Operational highlights 
-12m acquisition of Easyspace Limited completed 
- web services business now has 190,000 customers 
- three acquisitions including Easyspace trading profitably 
- NetIntelligence version 4 launched November as end-point security ASP service

Prospects 
- NetIntelligence positioning extended to family and SME market 
- web services business profitability well established 
- significant customer base provides platform for cross selling and continuing growth

Nick Kuenssberg, chairman, commented, The work invested in the three web service acquisitions and the buy-in of the iomart Internet minority are proving fruitful and will provide a solid platform for future development. We anticipate strong organic growth and further acquisition opportunities in the sector

Angus MacSween, CEO, commented, The first half of the year has been rewarding with the successful acquisition of Easyspace and continuing organic sales growth in our web services business. We are adding more than 1,700 net new customers per month and now have 190,000 customers including around 140,000 from the Easyspace acquisition."

He added, NetIntelligence continues to evolve as an effective solution in the network security space where our product functionality is increasingly relevant. We are gaining sales in the SME market and we have recently launched a home product centred on complete security for the family. This is a web based product ideal for broadband users and we are exploring a number of opportunities with a variety of ISPs and Telcos. Our MailFilter product is gaining sales in all market sectors and we intend to put more sales resource into that area to capitalise on the current demand. Our contract with BT is progressing satisfactorily.

Finally, looking ahead to the next six months, MacSween added: We are confident that we can continue to build on our organic growth, that we can integrate and grow our recent acquisition, and that we can make a significant impact with NetIntelligence. We look forward to building on our success into the second half of the year and beyond.