Financial software and service provider Iress Ltd (ASX: IRE) reported a strong set of full-year earnings this morning, announcing 27.7% growth in underlying group profit of $71.5 million on the back of a 31.3% lift in revenues.
Iress' revenues became more diversified during the 2014 calendar year with revenues from outside Australia jumping to 45%, up from 32% in 2013. This was partially the result of the company's purchase of Avelo in 2013 which greatly improved its presence in the UK market.
The company said that trading in 2015 had commenced in line with the average of the second half of 2014 and that it expects sell-side pressures to remain for at least the short term. This could be one of the main reasons why the market has sold the stock down by 7.4% today to be trading at $9.85.
In the meantime, the company announced a final dividend of 25.5 cents per share, taking its full-year distributions to 41.5 cents per share, up 9.2% on the previous year. Given the company's international presence, the dividend is only franked to 40%.
