Proactis’ head in the clouds as it returns to profit

The Wetherby-based company, which designs and licenses software for businesses and organisations to cut the cost of procurement, said annual revenues rose 20 per cent to £7.5m in the year to July 31.

This led to a return to the black with a £100,000 operating profit, up from a loss of £600,000 last year.

Over the year, the group signed 28 new deals worth £3.5m, which compares with 30 new deals worth £2.6m last year as the group signed up more higher margin customers.

Chief executive Rod Jones said: “The group is in the best position possible. Our product suite is complete, it is widely regarded as the best in class, it’s deployable in many different ways and has testimonials from many clients.”

Proactis is now offering a cloud-based subscription business model to complement its traditional perpetual licence business model.

Cloud computing provides companies with secure software, data management, emails and storage so they don’t have to deal with lots of different contracts.

Proactis said 10 of the 28 new deals agreed in the last year were cloud-based subscriptions.

Analyst Andrew Darley, at FinnCap, said: “Despite difficult market conditions the business delivered solid growth and much improved visibility.”

Proactis’s software is used by 350 organisations around the world from the commercial, public and not-for-profit sectors.

Mr Jones said the group’s US and Asia Pacific teams are now in place and working with regional business partners.

The US team contributed to revenue with several major client wins including Bridgewater Associates and DLA Piper. It also won CATSA (Canadian Air Traffic) as a new name deal during the year.

He said the Asia Pacific team made an encouraging start in its first year of operation, delivering three new names in the period, including Australian Customs & Border Control, through two new reseller partners.

Mr Darley said: “Management confidence is expressed in the dividend improvement, which increased to 0.75p, from 0.55p last year. Free cash flow of £0.7m took net cash to £2.7m.

“Revenue sources continue to develop, with establishment of Asia Pac and North American sales and support teams, and the opportunity for further partner relationships.”