CBT, the Irish-owned educational software company, continues to forge ahead with a rise in pre-tax profit from $3 million to $4.8 million (£2.15 million to £3.44 million) in the second quarter to June 30th, 1998.
Although not as spectacular as the first-quarter figures, the results are a record. Revenue went up from $29.8 million to $44.9 million over the same period.
"This quarter's results reflect the growing appeal of our expanding product offerings, as well as the fundamental strength of our business model," said Mr James Buckley, president and chief executive officer.
"Our year-over-year revenue growth in the quarter of 51 per cent continued to outpace the annual growth rate of the technology-based training sector overall."
The group's approach to technology-based training, together with its library and products, he added, placed the group "in the sweet spot for continued growth in this rapidly growing market".
CBT added 812 corporate customers in the second quarter. This brought its corporate customer base to 1,732.
One major contract was the $1.6 million deal with British Airways to provide the group interactive training courses to the airline's 2,500 information technology employees.
Another was a £2.6 million agreement with Whittman-Hart, a major provider of information technology, to provide access to its full library. CBT said its aggressive product development enabled the delivery of a record 69 new interactive education software titles.
The library now comprises 694 titles, representing a 25 per cent increase on the level at the end of 1997.
CBT also plans to deliver a new 100-title curriculum for the IBM suites for Windows NT.
A significant development in the second quarter was the completion of the acquisition of ForeFront Group, a provider of technology-based training products for technical professionals. "We expect that our leadership as an innovator in Internet and Intranet product development will continue to propel our business forward," said Mr Buckley.
"Because we have always designed our courseware to be distributed over networks, we have very quickly been able to provide customers with complete training systems."
With a very optimistic view of the future, he noted the projection by International Data Corp of 40 per cent growth through the year 2002.
The latest results show a rise in the net income per American depositary share from $0.05 to $0.09. They are quoted on the US Nasdaq.
