Misys hands back £670m
Misys, the software giant that provides financial software to the world’s biggest banks, yesterday returned £670m to its shareholders.
Around 170m ordinary shares were tendered and will be repurchased for cancellation at a cost of £525m.
A further £145m will be handed back by way of a pro rata return of capital to its shareholders. The share buyback represents almost a third of the firm’s market capitalisation.
Last week the firm, led by chief executive Mike Lawrie, reported a rise in new banking orders, saying this is a sign that clients are more upbeat about the future. It forecast banking order intake will reach £41-42m this year, up from £38.1m a year ago.
However, it said its first-half performance would be flat after large orders in its Treasury & Capital Markets business were delayed.
The company, which sold its Allscripts healthcare unit in June, said adjusted operating profit for the six months to the end of November would be £20-23m, against £21.6m a year earlier, on revenue of £160-162m.
It said it expected the delayed deals to close in the second half, and its targets for the two years to the end of May 2012 remained unchanged. It said in September it forecast five to eight per cent revenue growth in the medium term.