Dental software company is over teething problems

By ADAM GIFFORD

Strong sales of its dental practice management software in Britain and some big sales of its enterprise product in other markets has put Software of Excellence International in profit for the first time since listing last year.

The company yesterday declared a pretax profit of $106,562 for the six months to September 30, on revenue of $6.8 million. That compares with a loss of $410,338 on revenue of $4.2 million in the corresponding period last year.

Chief executive Paul Weatherly said the profit was in line with forecasts. "We said we'd be about break even by now, and $100,000 is about break even," Mr Weatherly said.

Mr Weatherly said Software of Excellence expected strong revenue and profit growth for the balance of the financial year, but cautioned a slowdown in the global economy, and in particular in Britain, could affect the final results.

He said the market for dental practice management software in Britain was consolidating, and the Dental Practice Board had reported a sharp rise in the number of dentists using the company's Exact system to claim national health fees electronically.

"Our unit sales volume over the last 12 months has jumped dramatically to about double that of the previous 12 months," he said.

During the year several British dental chains, with between 30 and 60 practices each, committed to buying Exact.

Sales of the enterprise version of Exact, used by hospitals and dental schools, slowed in Australia but picked up in Asia.

The company also established a beachhead in North America with a large sale to the dental school of the University of California Los Angeles.

Software of Excellence International