GBST posts lower profit but looks to better times

Financial services technology provider, GBST has reported a 25 per cent decline in full-year net profit after tax to $7 million.

The company confirmed an earlier announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that earnings had been impacted by increased product development costs to upgrade the group’s wealth administration and capital markets software platforms.

Commenting on the result, GBST managing director and chief executive, Robert DeDominicis said that despite the challenges, the result demonstrated the strength of GBST’s recurring revenue business and “the cash-generative nature of the business”.

The directors declared a final dividend of 2.5 cents fully franked.

Looking over the horizon, DeDominicis said the company expected EBITDA before strategic research and development in product development in the range of $20 million to $25 million for the 2018 financial year.