Former Sesame parent Misys reveals results

Misys reported today (26 January) that its adjusted operating profit was up 33 per cent to £30m for the six months to the end of November 2011.

The financial services software and services company revealed it had increased investment in developing new solutions - product development spend was 20 per cent of revenue.

Mike Lawrie, chief executive of Misys, said: “Customers have continued to adopt the new solutions that we have been investing in, despite challenging market conditions in financial services.

“Our investment in new solutions increased in the half and today we announce the summer launch of BankFusion 2.0.

“During the period, our customers took longer over their purchase decisions as financial market conditions deteriorated. However, with many customers there are new opportunities as they seek to consolidate their systems with fewer vendors and to upgrade their systems to meet regulatory requirements.

“Our recently acquired Misys Sophis business improved its order intake growth in the second quarter and for the first half achieved a four percentage point operating margin increase on last year as we executed cost synergies.”

The software provider’s medium-term financial targets, for the two years to 31 May 2013, were unchanged.

The business anticipates annual revenue growth of five per cent to eight per cent and adjusted operating margins of 20 per cent to 23 per cent for the Misys Group including Sophis.

However, management stated that given the continuing uncertainty among customers, contingency plans have been put in place to eliminate £6m to £8m of operating costs.