Horizon confirms possible offer

13-03-2008

by Deirdre McArdle

Systems integration firm Horizon Technology has confirmed it has received a possible offer for the company priced at EUR1.18 per share.

The Dublin-based firm advised shareholders of the approach, saying it may or may not lead to a formal offer for the company. Horizon has not revealed any more details on the approach other than to say the offer is subject to a number of conditions.

Horizon shares were up a massive 114 percent in early trading on Thursday on the back of the announcement. The firm's share price at 10.25am was STG0.71 (EUR0.93), up from a closing price of STG0.38 (EUR0.50) on Wednesday.

The news comes as the firm, which offers technical integrator and distributor of information technology products in the UK and Ireland, posted its preliminary full-year 2007 results. For the year Horizon posted revenues of EUR288.2 million, up 12 percent on the 2006 figure of EUR257.9 million.

Net profit for the 12 months to 31 December 2007 amounted to EUR5.9 million, a rise of 6 percent on the EUR5.5 million recorded in 2006. Meanwhile, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also jumped 6 percent year-on-year to EUR10.7 million.

The firm's operations in the UK have strengthened over the past year. Revenue from its UK business accounted for 82 percent of total revenue in 2007, the firm said. Horizon clients in the UK include Sun Microsystems, Juniper, F5, Nortel (data products), Tandberg, EMC and Oracle. Here in Ireland, Horizon says it has continued to enhance its relationship with IBM through the extension of its partnership into the Irish market.

"During 2007, we strengthened our position with existing partners and made significant progress with new partners such as Oracle, EMC and IBM. In addition, we continued to deliver both acquisition and organic growth during 2007 -- both of which remain a focus for growth into 2008," said Gary Coburn, Horizon's chief executive officer, in a statement.

Horizon ended 2007 with a strong balance sheet; it held net cash of EUR4 million compared to net debt of EUR7 million at the end of 2006.

In its outlook for the current year Horizon appears confident, if slightly cautious. "Taking global market conditions and the weakness of sterling into account, the directors are confident of the group's growth prospects in 2008," said the firm.