FINTECH company Beeks Financial Cloud, which floated on the Aim market in November, has doubled underlying profits but seen its shares fall around eight per cent following a strong run.
The Linwood-based business made £0.28 million pre tax profit in the six months to 31 December compared with £0.13m in the same period in the preceding year.
Revenues increased by 40 per cent, to £2.57m from £1.83m.
Beeks, which provides cloud-based systems that allow users to execute automated trades online quickly, raised £7m through the listing to support expansion.
Chief executive Gordon McArthur said yesterday the firm had made good progress in recent months and highlighted the potential to maintain strong growth.
The number of institutions that use its services increased to 170 at 31 December, from 113 at the end of 2016.
“The size of the market is 10,000 plus so there’s a long way to go,” said Mr McArthur who founded Beeks in 2010 after holding managerial roles at IBM.
Beeks has also capitalised on the trend for growing numbers of independent retail investors to use automated trading systems, which may employ algorithms to determine when to buy and sell shares.
Its client base includes 6,000 retail investors.
The firm offers clients access to specialist servers located close to trading exchanges. It recently launched a new cloud hosting site in New Jersey in the USA, bringing the total number of sites around the world to nine.
Beeks has facilities in major financial centres including London, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
Mr McArthur noted the scope to increase the wallet share of customers by extending the range of services Beeks offers.
The company could make more bolt-on acquisitions to help with this.
The takeover of Chicago-based VDIware in 2015, for a seven figure sum, allowed the company to give institutional investors access to futures exchanges in that city and other centres.
Mr McArthur said the company could also make bigger, strategic acquisitions.
The Glasgow Caledonian University graduate believes Beeks would be able to raise funding from institutions to support growth moves.
The £0.34m costs associated with the move on to Aim left the company sitting on a £0.11m pre tax loss for the first half, compared with £0.18m last time.
However, Mr McArthur noted the benefits that the listing brings.
In addition to providing access to a wide range of potential providers of capital, it helps underline the credibility of the company in the eyes of clients.
Mr McArthur noted Beeks hosts mission critical systems that handle billions of dollars worth of trades daily.
The projected growth could result in Beeks increasing employee numbers in Scotland by 50 per cent, to 30, over the next year.
Mr McArthur has no doubt the company can successfully manage its expanding international network from Scotland. Key functions ranging from product development to accounting and human resources are based in the country.
“There is a great pool of talent from the universities and we have an active graduate recruitment programme,” said Mr Beeks.
He noted that space is affordable in Scotland. The head office is a five-minute drive from Glasgow airport.
“It makes no sense to have back office functions in some of the most expensive cities in the world,” he observed.
Analysts at the company’s Nominated Advisor, Cenkos Securities, said: “Beeks offers compelling value in our view given its strategic position within a secular growth market.”
They added: “ There are strong opportunities to expand the business further into H2/18 with new sites yet to be rolled out and increased focus on Asia, particularly China.”
Shares in Beeks closed down 5p at 60p.
It has a market capitalisation of around £29.5m.
The shares closed at 47p after the first day’s trading and peaked at 66.26p on Wednesday.
Scottish housebuilder Springfield Properties floated on Aim in October.
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