KEY POINTS:
Christchurch software company Jade yesterday reported a 145 per cent increase in after-tax profit to $7.1 million in 2006.
Ebitda rose 48 per cent to $12.3 million.
Managing director Rod Carr said a direct comparison with previous period results was difficult as a result of the change in business structure of Jade's health and independent software businesses.
He said Jade's order book was full for the next six months and the qualified prospects in the pipeline were at record levels.
Jade is forecasting increased revenues and some modest expansion in margins on core business in 2007.
The company has given shareholders a see-saw run in recent years. It had a stellar run in the 1980s and there was much speculation about a possible public float.
But things fell off the rails in the 2000s. In 2003, just after Carr took over as CEO, Jade posted a $15.6 million loss.
A capital restructuring saw founder and former CEO Gil Simpson's stake dilute from 90 per cent to less than 2 per cent.
Carr noted that while 57 per cent of Jade's revenue was derived from overseas, around one in four of the top 100 IT users in New Zealand had a Jade system.
"However you measure it, Jade is continuing to grow; the number of customers and users, total revenue, and staff are all increasing. 2006 was a year in which growth accelerated," Carr said.
The company had a strong balance sheet with $21 million of cash on hand.
In 2006, Jade increased spending on research and development, by 11 per cent to 16 per cent of turnover. At the same time corporate overheads fell by 12 per cent.
Independent accounting consultant Alan Robb recently took issue publicly with Jade's half-year accounts, saying operating revenue was inflated by the sale of off-the-shelf healthcare software to UK company Ascribe.
Robb estimated the sale at $7.7 million in cash and shares. He said discounting that meant first-half revenue fell and raised questions about the extent of Jade's recovery.
Carr and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers said the transaction was not necessarily a one-off. He said Jade made these transactions on more than one occasion in the past and would almost certainly do so again.
He said decisions over recent years to invest in inter-operability for Java and .Net had made Jade an open platform, while preserving the simplicity, stability and productivity.
- NZPA
