Megabuyte - Technology sector intelligence

Business telco Chess has announced relatively unimpressive revenue growth of 13% for the year to April 2010, to £29.1m, despite spending over £4m on customer bases in each of the last two years. However, profitability and cash flow were far more impressive, with EBITDA margin up 5pp to 18.2% and EBITDA cash conversion of 117%.  The company has followed last year’s 12 acquisitions with at least three so far this year, including most recently Intelligent Networks, which will add over £1m to turnover. Premium subscribers can view our analysis of the results and acquisitions in Newswire Plus.

Alterian builds social media capability with Intrepid acquisition

Marketing software vendor Alterian has made another acquisition in the social media space this morning in the form of Intrepid Consultants. With offices London, Seattle and Vietnam, Intrepid provides consulting services delivering insights into social media marketing techniques. Alterian is paying an initial consideration of $3.5m in cash and shares with a further maximum of $7.35m payable as an earn-out to March 2013. For the year to December 209, Intrepid delivered profits of £0.3m and will be earnings enhancing in its first year of ownership. Read our first thoughts on the acquisition in Newswire Plus.

New management roll up their sleeves at Parity

IT resources and solutions player Parity issued its interim results today which were trailed by a recent trading update. The headline story is of a sharp decline in revenue and a drop into loss but a strong performance on cash. Group revenues fell 16% to £52.6m in the six months to June and the company reported an underlying pre-tax loss (before £1m of exceptionals) of £1.7m. However, strong cash conversion resulted in a net cash inflow of nearly £5.0m in the period taking net debts down to £5.0m at the end of June. Read our full review of the results in Newswire Plus.

ANT yet to see take-off

TV software provider ANT’s interim results showed virtually static and therefore disappointing revenues, despite increasing industry interest in various forms of ‘connected TV’.  However, profitability and cash outflow was much improved. Notwithstanding the slow progress, ANT’s shares have halved in the last year, and the current market cap of £6m is not that much more than the company’s cash balances, suggesting that evidence of licence revenue growth could lead to a significant re-rating. Read our full review and analysis of the results in Newswire Plus.

2ergo’s decidedly upbeat update

Mobile content and services provider 2ergo has put out a decidedly upbeat trading statement, though with a noticeable absence of any hard numbers.  The financial year just closed is described as being in line with expectations, and the company anticipates strong returns on its investments this financial year.  The language is markedly more upbeat that the interim results would have implied (Premium Plus readers see here), suggesting that integration problems and economic weakness are being overcome.  We hope the company engages more with the city this coming year.