Vista annual earnings beat expectations, implements dividend policy for 2016

Friday 26th February 2016

Vista Group International, whose software technology manages cinema operations worldwide, beat its prospectus forecast for annual underlying profit as it doubled sales in the Americas, and signalled plans to start paying dividends in 2016.

Adjusted profit, which excludes certain acquisition costs, rose to $9 million in calendar 2015 from a restated $8.2 million a year earlier, beating the $8.1 million forecast in its July 2014 prospectus, Auckland-based Vista said in a statement. Net profit fell to $5.8 million, or 7 cents per share, from $8.2 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier when Vista recognised a gain in the fair value of a subsidiary. Revenue climbed 39 percent to $65.4 million, and was 6 percent ahead of forecast.

"We've been focused since joining the exchange on hitting the numbers that we put out," chief executive Murray Holdaway told BusinessDesk. "It's really important for a new listing to do what they say they're going to do."

Vista also announced the introduction of a dividend policy from the current financial year to pay between 30 percent and 50 percent of net profit, subject to capital expenditure needs, having gone two years without making cash returns to shareholders.

The stock fell 2 percent to $4.90, having dropped 13 percent so far this year. Earlier this month the company was queried by sharemarket operator NZX on why its share had declined 27 percent since early January and it replied it had complied with all material disclosures and that the company was trading strongly.

Holdaway said the company has generated cash prior to going public, and while a dividend isn't a certainty, the policy is "also a view of providing some element of reward back to the great investors we've got with us."

The company anticipates revenue to grow between 20 percent and 30 percent this year.

It's still on the hunt for complementary acquisitions, which Holdaway said would be funded by its $27.3 million of cash on hand as at Dec. 31.

Vista's core entertainment solutions business underpinned revenue growth in 2015 with 461 new installations in the year and the acquisition of Dallas-based Ticketsoft and its 202 sites in the first quarter.

Revenue from the Americas climbed 93 percent to $22.8 million, becoming Vista's biggest region. Europe/Africa revenue jumped 35 percent to $19.8 million, while Oceania sales advanced 21 percent to $18.7 million. Asia revenue fell 18 percent to $4.2 million.

Its Veezi software-as-a-service unit installed 350 units by the end of the year with monthly average revenue per site rising to $443 from $260 in 2014. Its Movio analytics segment added 17 new circuits and more than tripled its member profiles to 81 million on its cinema platform while the media product was launched and will run an 18 film trial across six Hollywood studios.

The MACCS film distribution segment signed Warner Bros in July, which meant expected revenue from developing a product ready for the US market has been pushed out into 2016.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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