Icon Q4 revenues jump to €71.7m
The company, which employs 2,700 people in 23 countries, reported revenues of $86 million (€71.7m) in the three months to May, which was 10% higher than the same period last year.
But pre-tax profits for the quarter slumped from $9.6m to $7.3m on the back of higher selling and administrative costs, coupled with heftier depreciation charges.
Chairman John Climax said the results were better than in the previous quarter and were in line with expectations.
“We had solid net new business awards of $101m in the quarter,” he said, adding that there was a backlog of work in progress worth over $525m at the end of the period.
Dr Climax, a co-founder of the company, was upbeat about the company’s prospects.
“We expect growth in all divisions as the year progresses and we expect our lab business to return to profitability during the first half of calendar 2006,” he said.
Icon’s lab-based business, which accounts for around 10% of total turnover, had disappointed over the past 12 months.
Yesterday’s results meant Icon’s full-year revenues were 10% ahead of the previous year at $327m.
Stripping out the effect of acquisitions during the year, total sales were ahead by 7%.
Pre-tax profits for the year were just over half last year’s level, however, after falling from $34.7m to $19.6m.
Once-off charges accounted for over $11m of the $15m fall, with the balance down to higher costs.
Earnings per share for the full year fell from $1.88 to $0.96.
But there was better news on the cashflow front as the company said its net cash balances at the end of the period were stable at €78.4m.
The company also said yesterday that it would change its accounting year end from May to December, to bring its financial year into line with the calendar year.
It will report figures for the seven-month period covering May to December 2005 to facilitate the changeover.
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