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[lord buffett] 24/9/2008 10:01

ILT Solutions H1 pretax soars; co expects little growth in FY revenues vs 2007



LONDON (Thomson Financial) - ILT Solutions Plc. posted a sharp rise in
first-half pretax profits, helped by a restructuring in 2007 and an 8 percent
rise in sales during the period, and said it is robustly enduring the impact of
a challenging economic climate.
Pretax profits for the period came in at 95,655 pounds compared with 7,192
pounds the year ago. Sales for the period were 893,441 pounds.
But the e-training services provider warned it would be realistic to expect
no growth in full-year revenue compared with 2007 in light of the general
economic slowdown, which it believes will "inevitably impact" business,
especially in its UK subsidiary.
While its sales pipeline "has a good volume of proposals and prospects, the
conversion of these proposals into confirmed sales has been slow", chairman Ian
McNally said, mainly attributing this to "the economic slowdown, rather than
competitive pressure from e-learning providers".
"The key target for this year remains building on the restructuring
initiatives of 2007. Unfortunately without the planned sales growth, this will
not greatly impact on the bottom line during the year ending December 2008,"
McNally said.

[lord buffett] 18/9/2008 11:06

Anyone have an interest in this one?

Anyone know why it dropped so sharply this morning?

(Recovering a bit now though.)

[lord buffett] 18/9/2008 11:05

(Just thought I'd create a discussion thread for ILT, as nobody else has!)


Link to Growth Company Investor piece on ILT (dated 12/05/2008):



Having taken over at bombed-out training services provider iTrain in 2006, executive chairman Ian McNally understandably wants to put some distance between his regime and the 'appalling performance' of the previous management.

Following his arrival, he effected a boardroom clearout and then changed the group name to the more aseptic 'ILT Solutions'. In 2007, the South African-born McNally, who built a £100m-sales company in his native land in the 1990s, tightened his steely grip on the business and turned 2006's loss into a small pre-tax profit.

iTrain's plan to produce e-training for Microsoft Office programmes fell down after Microsoft brought out a new Office update every time iTrain had caught up with them. 'They never achieved any financial goals,' summarises McNally, who has cut costs, re-focused on delivering 'solutions', rather than products, and grown recurring revenues.

From its bases in Bedfordshire and Cologne, Germany, ILT offers 'blended learning', cutting costs for clients by diluting instructor-led training with its own e-learning software programmes – its strong blue-chip client base includes Bayer, Bentley, Deutsche Bank, Toyota and Vodafone.

This year, the sales team, which last year increased revenues 58% to £1.9m, is focusing on 'mining' these larger clients, whose training budgets are huge. This year will also see the full benefits of recent restructuring and sales from a range of improved products. Now profitable, ILT's lowly valuation reflects its disappointing history rather than future prospects.