Financial crime and compliance solutions company Norkom yesterday reported a pretax profit of €2.24 million for the six months ended September 30th, a 27 per cent increase on the same period last year.
It also announced a 53 per cent increase in revenue to €17.6 million for the six months, compared to €11.5 million in the corresponding period in 2006.
The company has attributed its strong performance to an 80 per cent growth in North American sales, as well as the addition of revenue from operations in the Asia Pacific region.
Norkom's chief executive Paul Kerley said he was "pleased with the progress made during this financial period" and the continued "organic growth" of the company.
"A strong financial performance has been achieved across all our regions at a time when the company has been involved in growing new markets, completing a complex acquisition and raising further funds on the public markets," he said.
Norkom's shares fell after the numbers were released, closing 10 cent lower at €1.50. Volume was low, however.
In July, Norkom completed the acquisition of US company Digital Harbor in a deal worth up to €26.7 million.
The acquisition was seen as a means to contribute to the future growth of Norkom in the US.
It reached agreement with Digital Harbour to transfer the government business into a separate entity, in which Norkom will make a €2.15 million investment for an initial 40 per cent stake.
Norkom completed the addition of 19 new clients, 10 of them through Digital Harbour, in the six-month period, including Permanent TSB, Bendigo Bank and Washington Mutual.
The company now has four of the world's top seven banks as clients.
Mr Kerley said the company's strategy had not changed and that it would "continue to look for organic acquisitions".
He said the next phase for Norkom would be about "scaling what we have achieved".
Norkom expects the global market for financial crime and compliance solutions to continue to grow by approximately 24 per cent annually, attributing this growth to an increase in international anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulation.
The company anticipates the market value for such financial crime and compliance solutions will rise from $480 million this year to $917 million by 2010.
Mr Kerley said he was hopeful that Norkom would eventually be able to capture "25 per cent" of this market.
"With good visibility of potential revenues for the year ending March 2008, the company is positive about the outlook for the remainder of the financial year," Mr Kerley said.
