Misys Group Plc, which now bills itself as one of the largest applications software companies in the world, is by no means finished with acquisitions yet. It is currently running its eye over five international acquisition targets worth between $2m and $30m each, chairman Kevin Lomax told Reuters, adding that the company was still keen on businesses that operated within a strong international financial services market. The company has 18.7m pounds cash and undisclosed, but low debt levels, so Lomax reckons it has plenty of headroom in its cash flow and borrowing facilities to enable it to keep up the pace on the acquisition front. For the half-year to November 30, the company achieved 23% growth in both net and pre-tax profits, to 17.5m pounds and 23.7m pounds respectively, on revenue up 10% to 143m pounds. During the period, the company continued on its buying spree, with the acquisition of US treasury management software firm Frustrum Group Inc (CI No 3,041), and financial derivatives software vendor Summit Systems Inc, along with its French partner Finance Information et Technologie SA (CI No 3,066), paying out a total consideration of $93.7m, with a further $49.7m to pay, dependent on performance, over the next three years. These buys, says Lomax, will bolster the group’s banking division and North American position. Altogether, the Salford Priors, UK company has managed to push its international sales up to 47% of total revenue or 67.1m pounds, from 39% last time. The company has also paid out for the bolt-on acquisitions of construction industry software house Micabuild Ltd, electronic banking firm Credo Group, insurance software house Actionquote Pty and risk management firm Financialware Pty. The banking division, which accounts for half of the group’s revenue , added 23 new customers to its books, resulting, along with improved margins, in a 25% increase in operating profit to 15.4m pounds. Sales were up 11% to 20m pounds at the insurance arm, but operating profits were down 5% at 5.5m pounds, a slippage attributed to ongoing investment in the division and continuing poor market conditions within the general insurance market and traditional business systems, which Lomax said was expected to hold back progress in the division. The information systems arm fared better with a 21% rise in operating profit to 4.4m pounds and its products contributed strongly to the international ventures, particularly in the health care and construction. The firm will pay an interim dividend of 4.6 pence.
