Escher boosts revenues by a third

Escher Group Holdings, a provider of outsourced, point-of-service software to the postal industry, has posted a 34 per cent rise in revenue for the six months ended June 30th, boosted by a number of contract wins and renewal by existing customers.

Pre-tax profit rose to $1.15m (H1 2011: $0.41m) on revenue of $8.69m (H1 2011: $6.46m). Operating profit came in at $1.44m, 5.0% higher than the $1.38m delivered during the same period the previous year. Basic earings per share were 4.6 cents, up from 3.2 cents in the prior corresponding period.

During the half year, the company signed a major contract with the US postal service (USPS) on its Retail System Software project and also won contracts with Pakistan Post and SwaziPost.

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Liam Church, Chief Executive, said: "We are delighted with our first half performance. Signing three new contracts including the USPS contract confirms Escher as a pre-eminent supplier of software to the postal industry. The contract is expected to generate, over a fifteen-year term, approximately $50m in revenue for the group, but with scope for substantial additional revenue.

"The delivery of the USPS contract is on schedule. The first half year performance has enabled Escher to strengthen and re-organise its business and leaves us very well positioned to pursue other large scale opportunities that we are seeing in the industry. Our pipeline remains good and we are confident of meeting expectations for the year."

The group continues to generate revenue from existing customers for professional services in the form of integration services and requests for additional software functionality. Renewal of maintenance and support contracts by the group's existing customers remain consistent and in line with previous periods, the firm added.

Net debt was reduced significantly from $8.38m to $3.9m over the six month period.

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