Empired's recovery year pays off after rough trading in 2016

National solutions provider Empired said it's "recovery year" had paid off after a rough 2016, which saw earnings and shares hammered.

The company released its unaudited results for the financial year ending 30 June 2017, which showed revenue was up by $8 million, reaching $168 million. Earnings more than doubled to $15.4 million.

Chief executive Russell Baskerville said Empired's recovery year was successful and showed that it was setting up for growth in FY18. The company suffered from transitional difficulties last year, including a restructure to the Australian sales team costing $4.1 million, delays in commencements of contracts costing $1.1 million and plant and equipment write-down costing $2.3 million.

As a result, EBITDA fell 25 percent to $8.2 million, and Empired's share price was hammered from 76 cents the year before to 46 cents. Empired's current share price opened at 58 cents at the opening of trading today.

One caveat from this year's results was that revenue growth was constrained "due to a decline in low-marking product resale and soft activity" in Empired's US business. However, Baskerville said that two of its key growth markets, NSW and Auckland, has boosted sales 32 percent and 67 percent, respectively.

"The proliferation of digital business models heavily reliant on data analytics, modern applications and mobile devices is ever present and underpins an exciting growth opportunity for Empired for many years to come," Baskerville said.

"I along with our board of directors would like to thank our shareholders, clients, staff and partners for their exceptional support and look forward to a very exciting future together."

Empired picked up Microsoft's Excellence in Business Insights and Data Award at the Australian Partner Conference in 2016. The company was also hand-picked by NEC to join the Western Australian government's IT panel, and conducted an internet of things pilot project with South Australian retailer Peregrine.

Empired will release its full audited results on 24 August.