Diligent continues sales drive in 3Q, upgrades drive revenue

Diligent continues sales drive in 3Q, upgrades drive revenue

By Paul McBeth

Oct 16 (BusinessDesk) - Diligent Board Member Services, the software-as-a-service company for corporate governance, continued its rapid sales drive in the third quarter as revenue from client upgrades underpinned growth in the period.

Revenue surged 145 percent to US$11.8 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, taking year-to-date sales to US$30.2 million, the New York-based, NZX-listed company said in a statement. Sales from client upgrades soared 205 percent to US$2.1 million, and new sales advanced 29 percent to US$6.4 million.

"Client upgrades continue to be a valuable source of new sales as well as our principal indicator of customer satisfaction with the Diligent Boardbooks product and service," the company said. "Diligent's management expects the positive trends in cash flow and improved balance sheet strength and flexibility to continue throughout 2012."

Diligent has gone from strength to strength in the past two years after cashing in on the increasing popularity of Apple Inc's iPad with its Boardbooks application. The firm has attracted almost a quarter of Fortune 1000 companies as customers, and counts 1,615 companies on its client base, with more than 2,330 board and 46,000 users worldwide.

The NZX-listed stock has surged as high as $4.09 from just 7 cents a share in the depths of the global financial crisis in 2009. It fell 1.8 percent to $3.81 yesterday, and has more than doubled this year.

Diligent said its cash flow position improved by US$8.6 million in the quarter, taking total cash to US$25.6 million as at Sept. 30.

The firm continued to pull most of its sales growth in the Americas, though at a slower pace. New sales grew 5 percent to US$4.1 million out of the Americas, with revenue growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa climbing 77 percent to US$1.6 million, and Asia and Pacific more than tripling to US$750,000.

(BusinessDesk)

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