Rolfe & Nolan Computer Services Plc, the London EC1-based financial computer bureau company, continues to hold its own in a flat UK market, reporting pre-tax profits up 7% at UKP704,000 on revenues up 10% at UKP3.3m. The company’s cash pile has grown since the year-end to UKP3.1m, including short-term deposits. Trading volumes were only slightly above those of the same period last year, though bureau and facilities management revenues rose by 5%. The ususal client fall-out occurred, but Rolfe doesn’t feel it has been too hard hit under the circumstances, and says the drop out of some clients was more than compensated for by new users. Recurring revenue, including maintenance to in-house users, rose by 14% to account for 75% of total turnover. Licence-related revenue was relatively flat, though the company’s growing success in Austria and Germany is said to have strengthened the group’s standing on the Continent. The main impact of the recession has been in drawing out ordering times; there have also been delays in the opening of the new derivatives markets in Belgium – Belfox – and Spain. But the company reckons the success of the new Austrian exchange, OTOB, will lead to other new exchanges with members installing similar systems, opening more doors for Rolfe. The Rolfe & Nolan bureau system has been installed at OTOB and is due to begin operation towards the end of January. In the UK, Rolfe’s system for fund managers is reported to have been well received, with six orders from major clients under the corporate belt. Obviously looking for alternative ways to make its money in the mature UK market, Rolfe says it hopes the sector for fund managers systems will become a substantial one in due course. Forecasting for the future, chairman Tim Hearley highlights the noticeable lengthening of the ordering cycle due to the continuing recession, so that the timing of sales – and when they will show up in the half-yearly figures – is hard to predict. Again, Rolfe & Nolan places emphasis on overseas business, having recognised it would not be sensible to bank on the UK alone, even when the economy does pick up.
