In the six months to October 31, Anite recorded net profit of 8.3m pounds ($16.4m), compared to profit of 9.2m pounds ($18.1m) in the same period of the previous year, on revenue of 78m pounds ($153.6m), down from 82.2m pounds ($161.7m) in the first half of fiscal 2006.
Slough, UK-based Anite’s public sector sales fell 15% to 31m pounds ($61.1m). The company blamed the poor performance on an anticipated slowdown in demand as clients awaited the publication of a white paper on the future of local government in the UK, and lower third-party hardware revenue. Sales figures from the first half of the previous fiscal year also include 1.3m pounds ($2.5m) from Anite’s troubled State of Victoria contract, which the company bought its way out of in July.
Anite’s wireless division, formerly known as telecoms, continued its recent growth, increasing sales by 6.4% to 26.4m pounds ($52m). The operation has been at the forefront of Anite’s restructuring over the last couple of years, and the company said that it will continue to invest in product development to support the segment’s expansion.
At the end of last month, Anite completed the acquisition of Nemo Technologies Ltd, a Finland-based provider of systems and software for mobile phone network testing, for 57m pounds ($112.1m). The purchase is expected to boost the wireless segment’s share of total revenue to 40%, from 33.8% in the first six months of the current year.
