For the year ended December 31, 2004, Microgen announced operating profit of GBP86,000 ($164,000), compared to a loss of GBP2.6m ($5.0m) in 2003. Revenue grew to GBP42.4m ($81.0m), up from GBP26.4m ($50.4m) the previous year.
Windsor, UK-based Microgen’s Solutions division, which provides consultancy services to companies in the financial services sector as well as to the emergency services and commercial companies, contributed GBP16.3m ($31.1m) to total revenue, up 143% from the previous year, and equivalent to 38% of the company’s total revenue.
Microgen’s financial services operation, which provides software for banking, asset management, and derivatives applications, more than doubled its annual revenue to GBP13.7m ($26.2m) in 2004. The division was boosted by the better-than-expected performance of its most recent acquisition, banking software company AFA Systems Plc. AFA made a loss of GBP1.9m ($3.6m) in the first half of 2004 but recovered to contribute profit of GBP2,000 ($3,800) in the fourth quarter of the year. Microgen acquired AFA for GBP7.2m ($13.7m) six months ago.
The purchase of AFA followed Microgen’s failure to acquire SAP consultancy Diagonal in July 2004. On that occasion, Microgen lost out to value-added reseller Morse, which agreed to pay GBP50.2m ($95.8m) for Diagonal. Recently, rumors have been circulating that Microgen itself may be an acquisition target for Morse, but Mike Phillips, group finance director at Microgen, refused to comment on the speculation.
