UK banking technology vendor Financial Objects says it expects full year 2004 earnings to be ahead of expectations after two contract wins at its Activebank division increased group revenues in the second half of of the year.
The company's shares were up three pence, or 5.8%, to 54.50 pence in morning trading on the news.
Financial Objects has moved to shake up its business model this fiscal year after posting a 19% fall in revenues and widening operating losses for the full year 2003. The firm has since reported a return to profitability, although revnues continued to fall in the first half of 2004.
In the second half of the year the vendor secured a £3 million contract with the Derbyshire Building Society and £1 million deal with the Swedish National Debt Office for its activebank technology. The vendor says these contracts, which were secured through its partnership deal with Siemens Business Services, helped the group return to revenue growth in the second half, reversing the trend of recent years.
Roger Foster, chairman, Financial Objects, says: "With the order backlog having increased during the second half of the year, we believe that this favourable trend can be sustained in 2005."
The vendor says rationalisation of the business also continued during the year and has resulted in exceptional redundancy costs of approximately £130,000, owing partly to the migration of software development to Bangalore.