GBST’s international expansion has emerged as one of the key drivers behind its strong performance in 2014-15, recording a 52 per cent increase in net profit to $15.3 million for the last financial year.
The results announcement comes in light of GBST’s aggressive growth in international markets which has seen a rise in international revenues to $114.3 million, an increase of 16 per cent on their $98.5 million earnings recorded in 2013-14.
According to GBST’s Managing Director, Stephen Lake, international sales represented 55 per cent of total revenues and for the first full year exceeded Australian sales.
“This reflects the progress of our global growth strategy which is supported by ongoing investment in our products and our people. GBST’s revenue growth has averaged more than 10 per cent annually over the past four years,” he said.
The GBST Board have also announced a dividend of 5.5 cents per share fully franked, an increase of 22 per cent on dividends for the previous financial year. This will bring total dividends for the year to 10.5 cents per share fully franked, reflecting GBST’s improved earnings performance.
To help drive new client acquisition, Lake said that GBST will take steps towards further internationalisation at a time when the wealth management and private banking sectors are increasingly converging.
“Regulatory change continued to drive sales and deployment of GBST Composer to support UK Pensions Freedom legislation helped to win new clients,” he said.
“International markets offer significant scope for growth and GBST maintains a strong pipeline of potential new business. Work has continued on client projects in New Zealand and begun on our first opportunities in Asia.”
With GBST looking to build on the successes of its strategy for global expansion, Lake announced the company is accelerating its investment in technology, product development and sales networks as the company seeks to diversify its business and penetrate the North American and Asian markets.
“As the company grows, we are working to expand our business to new markets and look for opportunities to help our clients improve their business performance through technology innovation.”
