Crawley, West Sussex-based mainframe software house Macro 4 Plc saw turnover rise 27% to UKP11.2m and pre-tax profits increase 28.9% to UKP4.9m in the last six months despite difficult market conditions. Chairman Terry Kelly notes however that these results reflect foreign exchange translation gains which are unlikely to be repeated in the second half. This, and that fact that interest receivable in the second half will be substantially less, will result in a smaller variance than usual in the ratio between first and second half performance. It is anticipated that pre-tax profits for the second half will actually exceed those for this half. The company’s cash position improved by UKP600,000 after the November payment of UKP2.8m final and special dividends and cash levels are expected to continue growing in the next half. Since around 80% of group turnover comes from overseas, Macro 4 says it constantly reviews the foreign exchanges and has also entered into a number of currency hedging contracts involving the US dollar, Deutschmark and the French franc. Of its four largest agencies, South-East Asia and Japan did best, showing encouraging growth in royalties. Those in Australia and Scandanavia have not fared so well though because of biting recession. The group’s Spanish agency was replaced by a new subsidiary, Macro 4 (Espana) SA in October. It was noted that no payment was made for goodwill or termination of the agency and that the new business is not expected to contribute to profits next time round, though it is expected to break even. Finally, the company has added a further AS/400 product to its software, bringing its total portfolio to 29. In the light of the extraordinary gains noted above, the Board recommended an interim dividend of 6.27p,up 22% on last year.
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