Synstar publishes annual results

Synstar plc has announces its results for the year ended 30th September 2003.

The key highlights were:
• Total operating profit up 6 percent to £8.5m (2002: £8.0m)
• Net cash inflow before financing up 17 percent to £9.8m (2002: £8.4m)
• Mixed performance in Continental Europe counterbalanced by strong
performance in core UK business where operating profits were up 44 percent to £13.7 million (2002: £9.5 million)
• Dividend payments initiated at 0.5p per share.

Commenting on the results, chairman John Leighfield said:

“Overall Synstar performed strongly in 2003. We have consistently said that our over-riding principle is to manage the business for profit and cash. This remained true in 2003. Year on year operating profit has risen by 6 percent from £8.0 million to £8.5 million; net cash inflow before financing has increased by 17 percent from £8.4 million to £9.8 million.

The most intractable problem we have faced recently has been with our operations in France, where a combination of lack of critical mass and the inherent inflexibility of the French business environment has defied all attempts to bring the operation into profit. We are therefore pleased to be at an advanced stage of negotiations for the disposal of this business.”

On the performance of the company’s BC division, chief executive Steve Vaughan said: “Business Continuity has delivered another good performance. The revenue remains strong, our margins remain high, and customers regard this service with growing interest. We have expanded our capabilities with some careful investment during the year. We have introduced the service to Germany with the opening of our new business recovery centre near Frankfurt. We have improved our capability in other centres. Despite this investment, we have continued to increase our ROCE in this business. For the future, we have new service offerings, expanding
Business Continuity into a fully-fledged high availability computing capability
- continuous computing whatever goes wrong. This solution has been tried successfully with several customers, and is now being launched to existing customers as a major expansion in service.”

•Date: 2nd December 2003 •Region: UK / W.Europe •Type: Article •Topic: BC markets
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