ESI reports FQ1 revenue up 22%

ESI Group, the French CAE company, today announces that results for its first fiscal quarter (ended April 30, 2012) were “buoyant”, with revenue up 22% from last year to €21 million. CEO Alain de Rouvray said that this growth shows continued momentum in the adoption of ESI’s solutions, coming as it does on the heels of the very good fiscal year just ended. The details:

• Total revenue was €21.2 million, which includes contributions by IC.IDO, acquired in August 2011, and Efield (December 2011). Excluding these acquisitions, revenue was up 17%.
• License revenue was €14 million, up 24% as reported and up 19% organically. Last year’s first quarter was relatively weak as a number of customers in Asia pushed orders into FQ2, which makes for an easy comparable. Add in that ESI’s license revenue pattern is heavily weighted towards FQ4, and we shouldn’t read too much into the FQ1 growth rate.
• Services revenue was €7 million, up 19%.
• ESI said that it saw “balanced investment across [its] main industrial sectors”.
• On a geographic basis, revenue from Asia was €8.9 million, up 27% over a weak quarter a year ago; from the Americas, €3.8 million, up 10%; and from Europe, €8.5 million, up 27%. I’ve asked for more details on what happened in the Americas and will update if warranted. Corinne Romefort-Régnier of ESI got in touch to say that “Q1 is not representative [of the full year]. We had some postponed contracts but keep confidence in our development in Americas.”
• ESI also said that it saw “significant growth” in Brazil/Russia/India/China, which now represents 13% of orders, up from 11% a year ago.

ESI does not give forward-looking guidance, but M. de Rouvray did indicate that “We are confident that we will achieve a 2012-13 fiscal year in line with our strategic development plan, within a changing context that is conducive to a surge in our breakthrough technological solutions.”