http://www.iomart.com/

The Group's principal activity is providing web based managed hosting services for both the consumer and business.

Originally founded in 1998 as an integrated internet and telecommunications company, the Group has evolved to become one of Europe’s largest providers of managed hosting, colocation, data centre, and business continuity services, serving over 300, 000 customers each day. Having been at the forefront of the UK’s technological revolution for the past decade the Group has developed an enviable reputation for its internet expertise, its service ethic and its product innovation.

The Group holds a unique position within the marketplace. By owning its own data centre and network infrastructure, it is able to deliver the complete set of vertical components in the hosting arena from domain names, virtual web space, security, web marketing, SEO, websites, dedicated servers through to complex managed hosting solutions, colocation space, power, cooling and bandwidth.

As more and more mission critical business applications move on to the web, so organisations need more resilience, security and 24 hour management; the market for managed hosting services and datacentre capacity is expected to grow significantly over the next few years.Described by US Analyst Tier 1 as "currently enjoying the sort of momentum that could soon place it on the list of European heavyweights.", the iomart Group is fast proving to be one of the UK's leading lights in the provision of true cloud computing services.

iomart: FinnCap lowers target price from 340p to 330p, while staying with its buy recommendation.

Tipped in this weeks Shares.

Finals Wed 28 May

RNS


RNS Number : 1647I

Iomart Group PLC

28 May 2014








28 May 2014

iomart Group plc

("iomart" or the "Group" or the "Company")

Final Results for the Year ended 31 March 2014



iomart (AIM:IOM), the cloud computing company, is pleased to report its consolidated final results for the year ended 31 March 2014.



FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS



· Revenue growth of 29% to £55.6m (2013: £43.1m)



· Adjusted EBITDA1 growth of 43% to £23.6m (2013: £16.5m)



· Adjusted profit before tax growth2 of 37% to £14.6m (2013: £10.7m)



· Adjusted basic earnings per share3 from operations increased by 29% to 10.95p (2013: 8.46p)



· Cashflow from operations increased by 62% to £24.0m (2013: £14.8m)



· Adjusted EBITDA1 margins increased to 42% (2013: 38%)



· Proposed final dividend increased by 25% to 1.75p per share (2013: 1.40p per share)

OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS



· Increased European footprint and dedicated server expertise through the acquisition of Redstation Limited for a maximum consideration of £8.1m



· Acquired major presence in the Cloud backup and disaster recovery market through the acquisition of Backup Technology Holdings Limited for a total consideration of £23.0m



· Completion of fit out of around 600 racks of datacentre space in Maidenhead



Statutory Equivalents



The above highlights are based on adjusted results. A full reconciliation between adjusted and statutory results is contained within this statement. The statutory equivalents of the above results are as follows:



· Profit before tax growth of 12% to £9.7m (2013: £8.7m)

· Basic earnings per share from operations increased by 6% to 7.30p (2013: 6.91p)





1 Throughout this statement adjusted EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before share based payment charges and acquisition costs. Throughout this statement acquisition costs are defined as acquisition related costs and non-recurring acquisition integration costs.

2 Throughout this statement adjusted profit before tax is profit before tax, amortisation charges on acquired intangible assets, shared based payment charges, mark to mark adjustments in respect of interest rate swaps, the accelerated write off of arrangement fees on the bank borrowing facilities which were repaid early during the year and acquisition costs.

3 Throughout this statement adjusted basic earnings per share is earnings per share before amortisation charges on acquired intangible assets, shared based payment charges, mark to mark adjustments in respect of interest rate swaps, the accelerated write off of arrangement fees on the bank borrowing facilities which were repaid early during the year and acquisition costs, including the taxation effect of these.





Angus MacSween, CEO commented,



"We continue to be well placed to deliver an ever wider range of cloud services to our increasing customer base. With our growing reputation and ongoing investment in leading edge technologies alongside our own development skills, we are well positioned for further significant growth. I look forward, once again, with confidence to the year ahead

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iomart Group: FinnCap lowers target price from 330p to 325p and maintains a buy recommendation.

Naked Trader today - Anyway one looked interested to me and that is cloud computing group Iomart (LON:IOM) - it carries a bit more risk than my usual ones as it is tech related and can be volatile, moving fast.

Still, I have taken that risk and bought some at 206 yesterday.

Its last statement was bullish so I have added them on some recent weakness in the share price. For a high tech share they are not on a massive rating and at least there are real profits which are climbing sharply. My plan is to hold onto them unless the price dips well below 200p in which case would probably sell and take a small loss and try an entry price lower down sometime.

Iomart rejects two approaches

Host Europe Holdings, a company controlled by funds managed by Cinven Capital Management (V) General Partner (of which Cinven Partners LLP ("Cinven") is the adviser) has announced that it is considering a possible offer for iomart.

Iomart has said that twice in June the independent directors received approaches from Cinven regarding possible cash offers for the company at levels of 275p and 285p per iomart share respectively.

They concluded that both offers undervalued iomart and both were rejected.

At 11:55am:
(LON:IOM) Iomart Group PLC share price was +21p at 256p

24 Jul SP Angel 300.00 Buy

Steven Frazer
‏@SharesMagSteve Iomart #IOM Confirms Cinven 275p & 285p offers rejected June, gotta be talking 375p-400p min, P/E Mar'16 15x... zero premium now, deserved

25 Jul finnCap 325.00 Buy

Statement re Rule 2.6 Extension

RNS


RNS Number : 5195P

Iomart Group PLC

19 August 2014






iomart Group plc ("iomart" or the "Company")



Statement re Rule 2.6 Extension



In accordance with Rule 2.4(c) of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers ("the Code"), Host Europe Holdings Ltd ("Host") a company controlled by funds managed by Cinven Capital Management (V) General Partner Limited (of which Cinven Partners LLP ("Cinven") is the adviser) was required, pursuant to Rule 2.6(a) of the Code, by 5.00 p.m. on 21 August 2014 (the "relevant deadline"), to either (i) announce a firm intention to make an offer for iomart in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the Code or (ii) announce that it does not intend to make an offer for iomart.



In accordance with Rule 2.6(c) of the Code, at the request of the Independent Directors of the Company, following receipt of an indicative proposal from Cinven regarding a possible offer for iomart at a price of 300 pence per share in cash, the Panel on Takeovers & Mergers (the "Panel") has consented to an extension of the relevant deadline, until 5.00 p.m. on 16 September 2014 to enable Cinven to conduct initial due diligence and enable the parties to conclude their ongoing discussions.



This is an announcement falling under Rule 2.6 of the Code. It does not represent a firm intention to make an offer under Rule 2.7 of the Code. This statement is being made by the Company without the prior agreement of Cinven and there can be no certainty that any offer will be made nor, if an offer is made, as to the price or other terms on which any offer might be made.

Offer Talks Terminated

RNS


RNS Number : 7372R

Cinven

15 September 2014






NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION



15 September 2014



Statement regarding iomart Group plc ("iomart")



On 19 August 2014, Host Europe Holdings Ltd. ("Host") confirmed that it had approached iomart regarding a possible recommended cash offer.

Host has subsequently terminated these discussions and confirms that it is no longer considering making an offer for iomart.

As a consequence of this announcement, Host will, except with the consent of the Takeover Panel, be bound by the restrictions on making an offer for iomart contained in Rule 2.8 of the UK Takeover Code for six months from the date of this announcement. However, Host reserves the right to make an offer in the circumstances set out in Note 2 on Rule 2.8 of the UK Takeover Code.

In accordance with Rule 30.4 of the UK Takeover Code, a copy of this announcement will be made available at www.heg.com/media/press-releases.

Response to Host announcement and Trading Update

RNS


RNS Number : 7458R

Iomart Group PLC

16 September 2014




iomart Group plc

("iomart", or "the Group")



Response to announcement by Host

Pre-close Trading Update



The Board of iomart notes the announcement by Host Europe Holdings Ltd ("Host"), a company controlled by funds managed by Cinven Capital Management (V) General Partner Limited (of which Cinven Partners LLP ("Cinven") is the adviser), that it does not intend to make a formal offer for iomart. Accordingly, iomart is no longer considered to be in an offer period for the purposes of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers.



Pre-close Trading Update



The Board is pleased to report that the business has continued to perform strongly in the first half of the financial year. Trading in the six months ending 30 September 2014 has been in line with management expectations, with both revenue and profits expected to be substantially ahead of the comparative period last year.



These expected results build on the growth of the business in recent years, which has seen iomart deliver a compound annual growth rate in revenues of 32% since 2010 and 66% at the adjusted EBITDA level.



Demand for the Group's services remains strong and growing as the market continues to move towards the provision of products and services over the internet. These strong market drivers leave the Board confident in the outlook for the full year and optimistic for continued long-term success.



Angus MacSween, CEO of iomart Group plc, commented:



"The Group has delivered strong growth as we continue to execute on our focussed strategy of providing high quality and high margin managed solutions. With an outstanding track record and an established reputation as the UK's leading cloud computing company, we look forward to the future success of iomart."

16 Sep SP Angel 300.00 Buy
16 Sep finnCap 325.00 Buy

Interim Results 9th December 2014

RNS


RNS Number : 1881Z

Iomart Group PLC

09 December 2014






9 December 2014

iomart Group plc

("iomart" or the "Group" or the "Company")

Half Yearly Results



iomart (AIM:IOM), the cloud computing company, is pleased to report its consolidated half yearly results for the period ended 30 September 2014.



FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS



· Revenue growth of 28% to £31.5m (H1 2014: £24.6m)

· Adjusted EBITDA1 growth of 44% to £14.0m (H1 2014: £9.8m)

· Adjusted profit before tax2 growth of 27% to £8.0m (H1 2014: £6.3m)

· Adjusted basic earnings per share3 from operations increased by 26% to 6.15p (H1 2014: 4.89p)

· Cashflow from operations increased by 49% to £13.5m (H1 2014: £9.1m)

· Cashflow from operations 96% of adjusted EBITDA1 (H1 2014: 93%)

· Adjusted EBITDA1 margins increased to 44% (H1 2014: 40%)



OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS



· Development of relationships with strategic Tier 1 providers such as Microsoft, EMC and Dell

· Creation of cloud infrastructure and backup operation in the USA

· Acquisition of ServerSpace after end of period for a maximum consideration of £4.25m



Statutory Equivalents



The above highlights are based on adjusted results. A full reconciliation between adjusted and statutory results is contained within this statement. The statutory equivalents of the above results are as follows:



· Profit before tax growth of 26% to £5.5m (H1 2014: £4.4m)

· Basic earnings per share from operations increased by 25% to 4.25p (H1 2014: 3.39p)



Angus MacSween, CEO commented,



"We have demonstrated a further strong performance as we continue to benefit from last year's acquisitions of Redstation and Backup Technology, and we have made a good start to the second half of the year.

The market opportunity remains large and long term and, in a fast moving and ever evolving industry we have the skills and experience to continue to perform well. Our focus going forward is on continuing to deepen our relationships with the large Tier 1 vendors and their growing trust in our abilities gives me confidence for iomart' s prospects in the years ahead."











1 Throughout this statement adjusted EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before share based payment charges and acquisition costs. Throughout this statement acquisition costs are defined as acquisition related costs and non-recurring acquisition integration costs.

2 Throughout this statement adjusted profit before tax is profit before tax, amortisation charges on acquired intangible assets, share based payment charges, mark to mark adjustments in respect of interest rate swaps, acquisition costs and in the prior year the accelerated write off of arrangement fees on the bank borrowing facility which was repaid early.

3 Throughout this statement adjusted earnings per share is earnings per share before amortisation charges on acquired intangible

assets, share based payment charges, mark to market adjustments in respect of interest rate swaps, acquisition costs and in the prior year the accelerated write off of arrangement fees on the bank borrowing facility which was repaid early including the taxation effect of these.

Iomart shares take a hit despite revenue growth

By Andrew Neil

December 09 2014, 3:16pm
Iomart shares take a hit despite revenue growth

Shares in cloud computing specialist Iomart (LON:IOM) took a knock today, despite impressive top line growth figures.

First half revenues at the Glasgow-based firm grew 28% on last year to £31.5mln.

However, its cloud hosting arm (which accounted for £26m of revenues) saw a lower than expected improvement, leading to a 20% share price drop.

Essentially, the hosting business puts websites onto virtual servers, cutting costs and improving cybersecurity.

While the market for cloud services continues to expand, it’s become highly competitive.

Customer decision-making has become slower, with more strategic cloud choices to contemplate.

That cut organic growth in the segment to 8% - compared to the 12% management had hoped to achieve.

“We have seen casualties amongst our base, some with funding difficulties, some dropping out of markets and some being acquired and integrated elsewhere,” said chief executive Angus MacSween.

The most significant trend is the maturing and adoption of the large 'public cloud' offerings, primarily Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft through Azure and Office 365.

That has led Iomart to adopt a strategy of ensuring every flavour of cloud can be provided, be it Microsoft Azure, Office 365, AWS, vCloud Air, as well as private ring-fenced infrastructure.

“Iomart's challenge is continuing to position itself as the 'agnostic cloud company',” added MacSween.

The company is also focused on making the "right" acquisitions and last week wrapped up the £4.2mln acquisition of ServerSpace.

IT storage hardware firm EMC has also selected Iomart as its European partner for the launch of its Enterprise Hybrid Cloud.

Broker finnCap trimmed its share price target to 285p but upheld its ‘buy’ stance on the firm today.

Shares are currently priced at 180p.

UK government awards iomart spot on digital marketplace



By Gulli Arnason · February 4, 2015




UK cloud company iomart (AIM:IOM) said it has been awarded a place on G-Cloud 6, the UK government´s digital marketplace.

iomart has been accredited to supply infrastructure as a service (IaaS); platform as a service (PaaS); software as a service (SaaS); and specialist cloud services.

Among the services it offers are: vCloud and vCloud IaaS – self-managed and hosted virtual infrastructure services based on a VMware vCloud environment; Desktop as a Service; Hosted Exchange and Storage; Business Mail plus Mail and Web Filtering; File Sync and Share; and Advanced DDoS Protection using Arbor Network´s Peakflow solution.

Angus MacSween, CEO of iomart, said, “For public sector organisations the benefits of procuring services through G Cloud are manifest because they don´t have to go through costly and time-intensive due diligence on potential service providers. Cloud services can be bought off-the-shelf quickly and easily because the background checks have already been done.”

Award winning cloud company iomart Group enables businesses and organisations to operate their online data and IT environments safely and securely. Headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, iomart partners with leading vendors such as VMware, Amazon, EMC, Microsoft, Asigra, Arbor Networks and Dell to offer customers a centrally managed, controlled and completely agnostic set of hybrid, private and public cloud platforms. For more information visit http://www.iomart.com

Naked Trader today - When a company gets bid for and then it is turned down, it's amazing how often said company falls to a bid again at some point in the future. I've had quite a few of these in particular Kentz (LON:KENZ) where I made many thousands.

Iomart (LON:IOM) where I made quite a bit when it was bid for before managing to sell before the bid fell through I think is one of those and been building a stake in it.

It's six months since the last bid for it and it would be little surprise to see another one come along - the last bid interest was around the 300p mark and I suspect the company could be bought for that. Or 270 will do! Hell, I'll take 250 !

So I have bought a few more IOM, and noted the price has been steadily rising since it hit around 170. Looks like others feel the same! Even if it isn't bid for it seems to be reasonably priced around 2 quid. I hope to hold now and be patient.

Pre-Close Trading Update
RNS
RNS Number : 0722J
Iomart Group PLC
01 April 2015



1 April 2015



iomart Group plc

Pre-close Trading Statement

iomart Group plc (AIM:IOM), the cloud computing company, is pleased to provide its pre-close trading statement for the year ending 31 March 2015 ahead of the announcement of its full year results.



Group Trading Performance

The Board is pleased to report that iomart expects to deliver another good set of results.

For the year to 31 March 2015, the Group expects to show adjusted EBITDA(1) of approximately £29.0 million (FY2014: £23.6 million) and adjusted(2) profit before tax of approximately £16.6 million (FY2014: £14.6 million) both in line with consensus market expectations.

Over the period, the Group has delivered solid organic growth combined with good performances from its acquired businesses, and the Board anticipates these dual drivers of growth continuing in future.



Operations

The Hosting segment has continued to win a substantial amount of new business over the year, as the Group continues to benefit from the growing adoption of cloud services by organisations that need a strong partner with the necessary infrastructure to provide the certainty, scalability and flexibility they are looking for. Hosting also benefitted from the full year contribution of Redstation, and Backup Technology, the cloud backup business, both of which were acquired in September 2013 and ServerSpace which has contributed to the results since its acquisition in December 2014.

Easyspace has also performed in line with expectations over the year.

Angus MacSween, CEO of iomart Group plc, stated:

"iomart has delivered another solid year of growth. The long term opportunity remains very real and iomart is well positioned to take advantage of growth in the Cloud."



(1)adjusted EBITDA means earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share based payment charges, acquisition related costs and non-recurring acquisition integration costs.

(2)adjusted profit before tax means profits before, tax, share based payment charges, amortisation of acquired intangibles, acquisition related costs, non-recurring acquisition integration costs, mark to market adjustments in respect of interest swap arrangements and in the comparative period the accelerated write off of arrangement fees on the bank borrowing facility which was repaid early in the prior period.

Read new research note at http://tinyurl.com/oghark4