The year-end turnover of Misys Plc, the computer systems company based near Worcester, has been bolstered by the first contributions of Kapiti Ltd, acquired for ?38.0m, the Champs division of Data Sciences Ltd for ?751,000 and Supreme Computer Services Ltd for ?1.0m. Without their cumulative effort of ?7.6m, Misys’s sales fell by 3.4% to ?85.8m, as the group shifted its emphasis away from hardware and towards software sales and recurring revenues, where greater gross margins lie. The acquisitions helped to make the year one of record sales, profits, and earnings per share: with pre-tax profits up 23.2% at ?18.6m, turnover up 5% at ?93.4m and earnings per share up 19% to 31.9p. The Financial Services Division, which contributes 53% of group operating profit, saw profits of ?10.9m, up 16.4%, on turnover up 13.9% at 27.6m. The division’s major development programme at MFS, for client-server products is now coming to fruition and will be targeted at larger over the next 12 months. The group believes that the division’s future has been greatly enhanced by the changes in the financial sector. The Computer Systems Division with the other 47%, saw pre-tax up 34.3% at ?9.9m on turnover up 1.9% at ?65.8m. The creation of common technology bases in the smaller software companies that make up the Open Systems and Computer Solutions Divisions, and the integration of the service activities have further speeded the process of consolidation in the division. The Open Systems Division continued its recovery started in the second half of last year, and saw good results in Mentor, ICC and TIS Software. However the demand for the hotel companies’ products and services was mixed but Misys is confident about the future of the Omega product range, despite a difficult start. It will pay a final dividend of 5.06 pence to bring the total for the year to 8.06 pence, up 15.0% on last year.
