Tightening of IT industry margins predicted


16 Mar 2006

In its end-of-year results for 2005, Irish IT services player Horizon Technology Group has predicted that intense competition among global IT vendors is likely to lead to some contraction in industry margins in 2006 and beyond.

For 2005, Horizon reported a 5pc increase in revenues from €281m to €294m as the company’s trading profit rose 7pc to €9.1m from €8.5m.

Earnings per share continued to increase for the fourth consecutive year by 10pc to 9.73pc and the company said it expects modest market growth to continue.

In terms of strategic developments at Horizon during 2005, the company established a UK-based IBM channel partner and acquired UK enterprise security player EquIP Technology.

The company also forged partnerships with EMC, Veritas Software, Acer and BMC Software. As a result, Horizon has broadened its spread of vendor partnerships and no single IT vendor accounts for more than one third of the company’s revenues.

Horizon’s chief executive Gary Coburn commented: “2005 represents a period of significant strategic and financial progress for the group. During the year, we delivered on our strategy of building additional partnerships with leading global IT vendors in our target markets, through a combination of acquisition and organic development.

“These recent business developments provide Horizon with a solid foundation to sustain medium-term growth and broaden our relationships with major IT vendors,” Coburn added.

By John Kennedy