Jan 8, 2018

Micro Focus shares drop on ‘disappointing’ results

Micro Focus has shaken up its board with the appointment of former Arm Holdings executive Chris Kennedy as its new chief financial officer after its shares dropped sharply on the back of disappointing first-half results. The acquired business reported growth at the bottom end of expectations while the existing Micro Focus business, which declined 7 per cent, was 4 per cent behind Numis forecasts. Overall revenue at Micro Focus grew by 80 per cent to $1.2bn in the six months to the end of October while pre-tax profit, stripping out currency movements, grew 34 per cent to $145.7m. The first-half dividend was raised 16 per cent and new guidance on tax alleviated some concerns. Chris Hsu, chief executive of Micro Focus, said that the combination of the two companies had created the seventh-largest pure play software company in the world and the largest UK technology business by enterprise value. Kevin Loosemore, executive chairman of Micro Focus, said that the larger size of Micro Focus following the HP deal makes it a "Natural player" to consolidate the market for mature software assets and that the appointment of Mr Phillips as its first head of acquisitions reflects that trend.

Read the full story

 Related companies

Make a complaint about HP by viewing their customer service contacts.