Statpro H1 profit up; hikes interim div by 20 pct
(Reuters) - Analytics software provider Statpro Group (SOG.L) raised its interim dividend by 20 percent and reported first-half results that were ahead of estimates, sending its shares up to a 52-week high. StatPro, which provides software to the asset management industry, said it was experiencing good levels of activity across all markets for its products and was confident of its outlook for the rest of the year.
"New recurring business signed in first half 2009 was ahead of our expectations given the difficult market conditions and the level of cancellations was below budget with a renewal rate of approximately 95 percent," Finance Director Andrew Fabian said in a statement. Statpro's adjusted pretax profit for the six months to June 30 rose 63 percent to 3.19 million pounds on a 19 percent rise in revenue to 15.55 million pounds.
Pretax profit for the period soared 295 percent to 4.01 million pounds.
The company hiked its interim dividend to 0.6 pence per share from 0.5 pence per share a year earlier.
Statpro shares were up 8.1 percent at 93 pence at 0717 GMT on the London Stock Exchange. They touched a new 52-week high of 96.5 pence earlier in the session.
(Reporting by Kumar Alagappan in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)
