Share tips: Healthy outlook for NHS software specialist

This market-leading provider of software to the NHS has just posted another year of record-breaking revenues, says Paul Hill.

Since 1996 the NHS budget has roughly tripled and employee numbers have risen to 1.7 million. No wonder staff rostering software specialist Allocate Software posted record revenues for the sixth year in a row in August. As the European market leader in the healthcare workforce market, it provides software and services that help make nurses' and doctors' schedules more efficient.

Currently, 262 NHS trusts and 95 overseas customers use the system. Contract renewal rates for support remain at near 100%. So recurring revenues represent 42% of turnover (up 10% to £36.6m) for the year to May 2012. There's plenty of scope to expand further too, since almost a third of all NHS trusts still don't use an e-rostering system. Growth can therefore still come from new clients and/or cross-selling initiatives, where Allocate wins approximately 80% of all the bids it submits.

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Paul gained a degree in electrical engineering and went on to qualify as a chartered management accountant. He has extensive corporate finance and investment experience and is a member of the Securities Institute.

Over the past 16 years Paul has held top-level financial management and M&A roles for blue-chip companies such as O2, GKN and Unilever. He is now director of his own capital investment and consultancy firm, PMH Capital Limited.

Paul is an expert at analysing companies in new, fast-growing markets, and is an extremely shrewd stock-picker.