Craneware profits fall despite rise in revenue

Healthcare technology company Craneware reported a 6% increase in first-half revenues on Monday to $84.7m, with adjusted EBITDA growing 8% to $25.5m.

The AIM-traded firm said that despite the growth, its adjusted profit before tax for the six months ended 31 December decreased to $15.7m, from $17.1m in the first half of the 2022 financial year.

Its profit before tax also decreased to $5.2m, from $6.2m year-on-year.

Craneware attributed the decrease to the impact of increased interest rates, which led to adjusted basic earnings per share of 41.0 cents, compared to 43.5 cents per share a year earlier.

The firm also reported annual recurring revenue of $166.4m, which the board said demonstrated its continued high levels of contracted revenue visibility.

Its cash reserves stood at $38.6m at period end, down from $41.7m on the year, while total bank debt was $107.9m, down from $114.6m.

Looking ahead, Craneware said it was confident that it had the “building blocks” in place for growth acceleration, as current pressures within the US healthcare market abated.

The company also said it was confident in delivering results for the year in line with current consensus.

“We remain acutely conscious of the ongoing challenges faced by our customers and partners, in particular the impact of inflationary pressures and staffing shortages,” said chief executive officer Keith Neilson.

“The pressures they are experiencing strengthens our commitment to providing the tools to more accurately manage their operations and finances, as we seek to transform the business of US healthcare together.”

Neilson described Craneware as “financially strong”, with “healthy” cash reserves and a “solid foundation” of annual recurring revenue.

“This, combined with our market leading solutions, breadth of customer base, the scale of data flowing through our platform and the industry drive to achieve better value in healthcare, means we remain confident in our ability to deliver acceleration in our growth rates as the current pressures within the US healthcare market abate.”

At 1330 GMT, shares in Craneware were up 0.2% at 1,503p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.