SilverBridge boosts revenue 71%, profits 143%

JSE-listed SilverBridge Holdings has boosted its revenues 71% and its profits 143% for the six-month period ended 31 August 2009. The group, which provides software and consulting services to the financial services sector, increased its revenue to R51,040 million compared with R29,769 million for the comparable period last year, and profits to R6,191 million compared with R2,544 million.

Headline earning per share increased by 134%, from 6,43 cents for the same period last year to 15,02 cents.

"Given the state of the economy locally and globally, we are very pleased with these results," says SilverBridge CEO Jaco Swanepoel. "Our strategy is starting to pay dividends. Both of our operational entities performed strongly. Ones & Zeros delivered 29% of revenues and 14% of profits, and its consulting activities provide the group with a stable income stream."

"SDT, which focuses on the insurance sector, had a good year, securing a number of Tier One clients. This led to healthy implementation revenue, which increased 63% to R17,86 million at a segment margin of 49%."

In the prior interim reporting period, SilverBridge had noted that a number of contracts had been postponed due to market factors. "SDT was successful in securing and executing on these contracts over the last six months, which has been instrumental in our success."

Annuity revenue is a core component of SilverBridge's business, and it has grown by 26%: annuity-based support has grown 77% in revenue, and annuity-based software rental has been performing steadily in a difficult market, growing 5% to R11,14 million.

Consulting revenues were largely contributed by Ones & Zeros, with R14,665 million in revenue and R3,422 million in profit at a margin of 23%.

The group will continue to focus on its acquisitive strategy, but market sentiment, in the last 12 months has not been conducive to the closure of any transactions.

The past 12 months have seen investment in research and development in SDT's flagship product Exergy to gear it for changing market requirements.

Swanepoel adds that the group's outlook is healthy, both in the short and medium term. SDT in particular is ready for strong growth. “However, we are as sensitive to costs as we were last year," Swanepoel emphasises, and we only increase capacity supported by contracts."