The week ahead
In the UK, we anticipate December final results from Gresham Technologies plc (LON:GHT), FDM Group (Holdings) PLC (LON: FDM), Aptitude Software Group PLC (LON: APTD) and Spirent Communications PLC (LON: SPT). PCI-PAL PLC (LON: PCIP), which provides secure payment solutions, and Beeks Financial Cloud Group LC (LON: BKS), which provides cloud computing and connectivity solutions for financial markets, both reported December interim results today.
Gresham Technologies, the provider of data integrity and control solutions to financial institutions, reports final results on Tuesday. In its trading update in early January, the company said overall trading for the year was in line with the recently upgraded market expectations and is expected to report a 2% decline in revenues at £24.6mln with adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) of at least £4.4mln, reflecting a 7% gain. More importantly, Clareti annualised recurring revenue (ARR) jumped by 29% as at 31 December 2020 to stand at £12.3mln. The group closed the year with cash at £8.8mln, after an outflow of £2.3mln for the initial consideration for Inforalgo, which was acquired in July, and remains debt-free.
FDM, the technology services provider, reports final results on Wednesday. In its trading update in late January, the company said that it expects to report fiscal year 2020 (FY20) results in line with its expectations. FY20 revenue is expected to be £268mln (2019: £272mln) while adjusted profit before tax is expected to be £42.0mln (2019: £54.5mln). The group closed the year with cash of £65mln and has no debt. At the end of the period, the group had 3,580 of its "Mounties" placed with clients, which was down from 3,924 a year earlier. The company said that the current year started promisingly with encouraging levels of demand across most sectors and geographies.
Aptitude Software, the provider of financial management software to large global businesses, reports final results on Wednesday. In its January trading update, the company said it traded in line with the board's expectations in 2020 while a strong final quarter for new business performance in the North American technology and insurance sectors providing the business with greater revenue visibility for 2021. Hence it said that it anticipated a 2021 financial performance above current market expectations and at least consistent with that expected in 2020. Annual recurring revenue grew by 11% on a constant currency basis over the year to stand at £31.2mln at the period end and the group closed the year with £44.8mln of cash and has no bank loans.
Spirent Communications, the provider of telecoms testing and analytics solutions, reports final results on Thursday. In its trading update in January, the company said that while the main business drivers remained intact, the ongoing COVID-19 impact on customer spending patterns was a headwind and as a result, it expects growth in the current financial year to be second-half weighted. For FY20, revenue grew by 4% to US$522mln and adjusted operating profit was expected to be in line with market consensus, reflecting an operating margin of almost 20%, up from 18% in FY19. The group closed the year with US$241mln of cash and the board will look to return excess cash to shareholders. Last week, the group announced the acquisition of octoScope for an initial cash consideration of US$55mln, boosting its position in Wi-Fi.
Across the pond, it is quiet on the earnings front with December earnings season now behind us and there is just a sprinkling of companies reporting. The key highlights are Oracle, which reports fiscal third-quarter (Q3) earnings on Wednesday and DocuSign which releases Q4 numbers on Thursday. Other tech companies reporting include Cloudera and Sumo Logic.
Fortinet, the cybersecurity firm, holds its Accelerate 2021 & Investor/Analyst Day tomorrow while CyberArk Software, which provides authentication software, hosts is virtual investor day on Wednesday.
Date · Company · Event · Period ending
08-Mar · PCI Pal · Interim results · 31-Dec
08-Mar · Beeks Financial Cloud · Interim results · 31-Dec
09-Mar · Gresham Tech · Final results · 31-Dec
Early Mar · Attraqt · Final results · 31-Dec
10-Mar · FDM · Final results · 31-Dec
10-Mar · Aptitude Software · Final results · 31-Dec
11-Mar · Spirent · Final results · 31-Dec
16-Mar · Crealogix · Final results · 31-Dec
16-Mar · Computacenter · Final results · 31-Dec
16-Mar · Bango · Final results · 31-Dec
16-Mar · KRM22 · Final results · 31-Dec
16-Mar · Boku · Final results · 31-Dec
16-Mar · Eagle Eye · Interim results · 31-Dec
17-Mar · Kape · Final results · 31-Dec
17-Mar · Tribal · Final results · 31-Dec
18-Mar · Emis · Final results · 31-Dec
18-Mar · Ocado · Q1 trading · 28-Feb
22-Mar · Blackbird · Final results · 31-Dec
23-Mar · Alfa Financial Software · Final results · 31-Dec
23-Mar · Loopup · Final results · 31-Dec
23-Mar · Accesso · Final results · 31-Dec
23-Mar · essensys · Final results · 31-Dec
24-Mar · Keywords Studios · Final results · 31-Dec
24-Mar · Softcat · Interim results · 31-Jan
24-Mar · Sopheon · Final results · 31-Dec
24-Mar · Telit Communications · Final results · 31-Dec
25-Mar · Learning Technologies · Final results · 31-Dec
25-Mar · IQGeo · Final results · 31-Dec
29-Mar · Quixant · Final results · 31-Dec
29-Mar · Dev Clever · Final results · 31-Oct
30-Mar · Dialight · Final results · 31-Dec
30-Mar · K3 Business Technology · Final results · 30-Nov
31-Mar · Seeing Machines · Interim results · 31-Dec
March · IQGeo · Final results · 31-Dec
Week of 29 Mar · Mobile Tornado · Final results · 31-Dec
April · Supply@Me · Final results · 31-Dec
08-Apr · Tracsis · Interim results · 31-Jan
08-Apr · Alpha FMC · Trading update · 31-Mar
12-Apr · Quixant · Final results · 31-Dec
13-Apr · XLMedia · Final results · 31-Dec
28-Apr · 1Spatial · Final results · 31-Jan
29-Apr · Proactis · Interim results · 31-Jan
Source: Data from regulatory news and company websites