West Perth-based intellectual property group ipernica Ltd has reported a record net profit after tax of $15 million for the 2008 financial year, up 244 per cent on the previous year.
West Perth-based intellectual property group ipernica Ltd has reported a record net profit after tax of $15 million for the 2008 financial year, up 244 per cent on the previous year.
The result was struck on total revenue of $45.2 million, up from $21.3 million while pre-tax earnings increased sharply from $5.5 million to $17.9 million.
The bottom line earnings translated to earnings per share of 5.8 cents, up from 1.79 cents.
The company said the majority of revenue was contributed by ipernica's IP Assertion division, which is based on a portfolio of programs involving the assertion of IP rights against allegedly infringing third parties.
Performance highlights for this business included $13.3 million in revenue generated from the Stat Mux program (involving companies such as Nortel) and $30 million in revenue from the Ericsson program.
Ipernica said it was confident that the existing portfolio of programs within this division will continue to generate substantial revenues over the next one to three years, with a healthy pipeline of new programs currently under development.
The company continued to build the ipernica ventures (formerly Offspring Ventures) business, which is based around the identification of valuable intellectual property from research institutions and companies across Asia-Pacific and realising value through international IP licensing programs, the formation and incubation of spin-out companies, and the provision of commercialisation services.
Commenting on the results, ipernica's managing director, Graham Griffiths, said the 2008 year marked the second successive year of financial success, with the Company continuing to evolve its execution strategies to achieve its vision.
"Important new growth initiatives were also launched during the year, including the exciting new intellectual property based mergers and acquisition (IPM&A) strategy, commencing with the recently announced planned acquisition of the innovative geospatial company, NearMap Pty Ltd," he said.
"NearMap creates very high resolution aerial photomaps with multiple angle views at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.
"Their revolutionary approach to high resolution photomaps has the potential to generate a significant new earnings stream for the ipernica group.
"We have also continued to enhance and expand our ipernica ventures business, which together with our IPM&A strategy has the potential to generate a stable long-term income stream for the group supplementing our IP Assertion business."
