SunGard CEO Cristóbal Conde has given a confident assessment of the financial systems firm's ability to weather the economic downturn after turning in solid growth in organic revenue for the final quarter.Financial Systems revenue at SunGard increased 22% to $907 million for the quarter, reaching $3.08 billion for the year. Organic revenue grew approximately 11% in the quarter.
Cristóbal Conde, president and chief executive officer, comments: "The dislocations and uncertainties caused by the economic crisis are unprecedented, but, rather than hunkering down, we see them as a once in a generation opportunity for technology companies that can help their customers find new efficiencies and sources of revenue."
Nonetheless, the turbulence in the financial sector fed through to license fee sales, which slipped by $2 million from $89 million in Q4 2007.
Acknowledging the trend, Conde says: "While the spending mood for IT has continued to deteriorate, our customers realize that investing in IT is one way they can address the cost pressures they are facing, and they view us as a trusted partner. We have a broad portfolio of products and services, we are well capitalised, and we are confident that SunGard will come out of the economic crisis more competitive than ever."
Across the group, adjusted income from operations for the year 2008 was $1.22 billion, a 6% increase over $1.15 billion in 2007.
The figures were helped by a strong showing in one of the firm's broker/dealer businesses, which contributed approximately six per cent and eight per cent revenue growth in the year and the quarter, respectively.
"The broker/dealer revenue has remained uncharacteristically high and is a function of market volatility and customer mix," says the firm in a statement. "We expect this revenue to decline at some point but are unable to predict when."
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