Sungard is reporting a 13% increase in net income to $86 million for the three months ended 31 March 2004, with revenues from the Brut ECN driving growth in the firm's Investment Support Systems division.
Group revenue for the first quarter increased 25% to $841 million. Revenue from continuing operations was up six per cent from the same period in 2003, with the impact of favourable exchange rates contributing approximately two per cent.
Cristóbal Conde, president and chief executive officer, says the firm performed "solidly" in the quarter on the back of more favourable conditions.
"Business is better than it was a year ago," he says. "We are well positioned, our sales pipelines are improving and we continue to grow stronger competitively. Our customers are now focused as much on growing market share as they have been on cutting costs."
ISS revenue grew 29% to $455 million for the quarter, with revenue from continuing operations up nine per cent due to a large increase in SunGard's sell side business. ISS licence sales were $31 million for the quarter.
Income from the division dipped disappointingly to $64 million from $67 million in the year ago period due to lower margin returns from recently acquired businesses and the competitive ECN environment.