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FIRM Issues New Shares and Announces Growth
MR software company FIRM increased revenue in 2005 by 33%, compared with the previous year. The company has also announced an issue of 1.7m shares. The results are a welcome boost after a difficult December, which featured disagreements on the board and the cancellation of a planned share issue.
The company's financial results are as follows.
Three months to 31 December 2005
Revenue $6.26m (+39%)
Operating result (EBIT) $917,000 (+18%)
Profit before tax $923,000 (+48%)
Full year to 31 December 2005
Revenue $17.3m (+33%)
Operating result (EBIT) $915,000 (+31%)
Percentage figures indicate growth compared with the same period in the previous year.
During the fourth quarter, FIRM signed several contracts with new and existing clients. JP Morgan Chase, Dow Jones, Egg, Countrywide, Lightspeed, Statoil and Norwegian School of Management all renewed contracts, and the company signed new contracts with Carbonview and Google. FIRM says it will continue to target both MR companies and larger enterprises.
Commenting on the results, FIRM's new CEO, Henning Hansen, says the company is pleased with performance in both Europe and USA, and 'excited that more leading companies have standardised on the Confirmit software platform'.
The company expects continued strong organic growth. However, it says the growth rate will vary between the quarters in 2006. FIRM will continue to invest in research and development and increase sales and marketing efforts.
The company has also announced an issue of 1,770,000 shares at the price of 17 Norwegian kroner ($2.56). The placement represents 9.99% of shares outstanding before the placement. Gross proceeds from the share issue amount to NOK 30.09m ($4.5m). The new share issue was subscribed 2.7 times.
FIRM elected a new board at an EGM in December after announcing that 'an efficient working climate had become difficult to maintain' due to disagreements between members (www.mrweb.com/drno/news4934.htm ). It also announced in late November that it would issue 5.5m new shares through an initial public offering prior to its listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange (www.mrweb.com/drno/news4868.htm ) but decided shortly afterwards not to issue the shares.
The company is online at www.confirmit.com
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