Shares in software group Ideagen lost more than six per cent of their value on Tuesday despite the company posting in line interim results and Finncap upping its target price on the stock by 4p.

The AIM-listed company doubled its pre-tax profit for the six months ended October 31st from £0.23m to £0.52m. Revenue for the period climbed from £2.58m to £3.70m, although the cost of sales rose £0.18m to £0.59m.

Basic earnings per share rose from 0.22p to 0.31p year-on-year. The group also declared a maiden dividend of 0.05p per share.

Chief Executive David Hornsby said that the group had delivered strong organic growth and that, looking ahead, it was confident in its outlook for the remainder of the year.

"The period saw further transformation of the group through continued organic revenue and profit growth and a further acquisition [...] The group continues to benefit from robust recurring revenues and has also invested in additional resources to manage the customer base resulting in a maintenance and support renewal rate of 96%.

"Recurring revenues now represent 54% of our software and services revenue and cover 86% of the fixed cost base," he added.

Broker Finncap raised its target price on the stock from 32p to 36p following the results.



IG Group Holdings posted a 17% rise in pre-tax profit of £95.1m in the first half, driven by an increase in revenue and the impact of one-off operating costs in the prior year.

Revenue in the six months to November 30th 2013 increased 8% to £182.7m as growth in the UK and Europe offset a decline in Australia.

Australian turnover dropped 6% to £13.2m as the Australian dollar weakened during the period.

UK revenue rose 7% to £93.4m as an 18% increase in average revenue per client mitigated a drop in the number of customers.

European sales advanced 25% to £40.2m, boosted by a 20% increase in average revenue per client.

"The performance in the first half was satisfactory, with revenue, profit and cash generation all well ahead of what was a particularly subdued prior half year," said Chief Executive Time Howkins.

"Importantly, we continue to make good progress in executing on our strategy aimed at attracting and retaining active traders, broadening our offering and product set and developing the business globally.

"I believe the investment over the next few years in a number of exciting and key long-term initiatives will help us to deliver good levels of growth into the future."

The group recommended an interim dividend of 5.75p per share, flat on the previous year.

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