LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - AIM-quoted processor-based solutions group Concurrent Technologies saw pre-tax profits increase 2.3% to £3m last year, despite a small decline in turnover to £16.2m from the £16.4m it posted twelve months earlier.
Concurrent's gross profit improved by 1.1% to £8.99m, while its gross margin for the year expanded to 55.4% from the 54.2% it achieved a year before thanks to a fall in R&D spending to £3.19m from £3.39m, £2.13m of which was capitalised, boosting EBITDA by 1.86% to £4.39m in the process.

Earnings per share dipped to 3.79p from 3.9p a year earlier, but Concurrent left its second interim dividend of 1.30p per share unchanged, taking the total payout for the year to 2.20p, a 4.8% year-on-year gain.

Concurrent highlighted its current healthy order book and its "encouraging" sales as a sign of confidence to its board in the group's overall performance for the year ended 31 December.

The group added that, while it would look for global acquisition opportunities, it was also eyeing multiple opportunities to grow the business organically into new market areas without taking any unacceptable risks.

Concurrent's cash balances plus short to medium term cash deposits improved 8.1% to £8.41m.

Michael Collins, Concurrent's chairman, said the group's future outlook "continues to be encouraging", with demand for "more sophisticated boards and solutions" from both new and existing customers increasing.

"The key to continued success is to expand the group's range of products, with a particular focus on the OpenVPX bus architecture. In addition to boards and associated software, the group has recently started to provide development systems based on the OpenVPX and MicroTCA architectures. These development systems will enable users to reduce their own product development times," said Collins.

As of 1230 BST, shares had dialled back 6.05% to 78.45p.

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