Scisys profits swell after strong flow of new contracts

Scisys Group climbed on Friday after reporting that it will comfortably meet profit and revenue expectations after enjoying "solid organic growth".

The company, which supplies IT services to the space, media & broadcast, government, defence and commerce sectors, indicated optimism that this growth would continue after having won £23m worth of contracts since mid-December and reporting an order book at the end of 2018 of approximately £100m, up from £91.3m at the same point last year.

Mike Love, chairman of Scisys, said: "We remain optimistic and confident for the group's prospects going forward, given in particular the strength of its order book and end of year net debt position. SCISYS is well positioned to deal with Brexit and other challenges faced by the business community in 2019."

Despite "substantial" exceptional cash costs of Brexit contingency plans and payment of a final earn-out settlement relating to the December 2016 Annova acquisition, the AIM traded company reduced year-end net debt to £3.1m from £5.9m thanks to a "healthy" net cash flow.

The year saw the Space and Enterprise Solutions & Defence divisions expand their teams to meet increased demand, with significant wins including a contract for the EU-funded Galileo satellite navigation programme.

Meanwhile, the company has confirmed in 2019 it will merge its Media & Broadcast division with Munich-based subsidiary Annova, which was re-named Scisys Media Solutions GmbH in December and was acquired back in 2016.

SCISYS Group's shares were up 3.44% at 178.95p at 0841 GMT.