Phoenix revenues dip but profits stay aloft

Phoenix IT Group is surviving the recession - underlying profit is up four per cent and it has maintained margin at 14 per cent.

For the year ended 31 March Phoenix saw revenues shrink, as expected, 2.9 per cent to £245.8m. But underlying profit before tax grew 4.2 per cent to £34.4m.

As result it will increase share dividends by 2.4 per cent to 6.45 pence for the year.

Chairman Peter Bertram said the company had had a successful year despite the tough environment and thanked staff for their efforts.

The reseller said the year's two acquisitions - hosted software provider Office Shadow and KCOM Group's break fix arm had played a part in this growth. Looking forward selective acquisitions will play a role in future growth - especially cloud computing companies. Phoenix sees the move to hosted services accessed over the internet as the major current change in the market.

Phoenix remains confident for the year ahead with a decent order book and plenty of recurring business.

The contracted order book grew 23 per cent thanks to big deals in Partner Services including its biggest ever deal - a five-year agreement with Torex Retail.

Full statement is here. ®