Fidessa’s fifth straight special dividend fails to lift share price
TRADING technology firm Fidessa Group reported broadly flat full year revenues for 2013, a year that chief executive Chris Aspinwall said showed the first real improvement in trading conditions since the financial crisis in 2007.
The group paid out another special dividend of 45p per share, while its final dividend was flat at 37p per share.
Fidessa, which makes equity-trading software, reported a two per cent drop in full-year profit to £41.8m on revenues of £279m due to further consolidation. Restructuring and closures in the financial sector continues to restrain growth.
“2013 has seen the first real improvement in the trading conditions faced by our customers since the start of the financial crisis over five years ago,” said Aspinwall.
“Looking further ahead, we believe that as stability and opportunity return to the markets, the headwind reduction, coupled with further openings as our multi-asset initiative gains momentum, will enable us to return to growth levels closer to those we have seen in the past.”
Fidessa’s shares closed down 0.43 per cent at 2,310p a share.