September 3 (SeeNews) - Romanian IT company Bittnet Systems [BSE:BNET] said on Monday that its first-half net profit doubled on the year to 411,000 lei ($103,000/ 89,000 euro) due to higher performance in IT integration and cloud, and in IT training.
Bittnet’s consolidated revenues reached 23.125 million lei in first half of 2018, an increase of 2% year-on-year, Bittnet said in a press release.
EBITDA also doubled year-on-year, reaching 1.4 million lei.
“We are very pleased with the results from the first half of 2018, especially given the fact that they were accomplished during the process of integration of two teams - of Bittnet and dendrio," Bittnet CEO and co-founder Mihai Logofatu said.
The growth was driven by an increase on two key business lines, IT Integration & Cloud, which registered an increase in revenues of 37%, as well as IT Training, a segment where Bittnet is a market leader in Romania, which grew by 8.5%.
“The growth rates for both of our key business lines confirm the validity of the strategy that we’ve undertaken a few years ago. The growth rate differential between IT Training and IT Integration & Cloud divisions is a natural one since the latter market is larger and also includes cloud migration, market that emerged only 3-5 years ago in Romania. It is easier to grow at an accelerated pace on a market where our share is below 1% than one, where we are already market leaders, as it is in case of IT Training,” Logofatu added.
In August, Bittnet signed a contract to buy a 25% stake in game-based learning local firm Equatorial Gaming, using the proceeds of a private placement of corporate bonds. The placement was successfully closed at the beginning of July, fetching 4.7 million lei.
A month earlier Bittnet signed an agreement for the acqusition of a controlling stake in IT company Elian Solutions. In the third quarter of 2017, Bittnet acquired GECAD NET, an IT services integrator, which is now present on the Romanian market under the dendrio brand.
Bittnet will devote the coming months to finalising the process as well as overlooking the integration of both Elian Solutions and Equatorial Gaming into the group’s structure.
Bittnet was founded in 2007 by Mihai and Cristian Logofatu. The company focuses on IT training and delivering end-to-end IT infrastructure services and solutions from companies like Cisco, Microsoft, Dell, VMware and HP, among others.
It was the first Romanian IT company to be listed on the BVB, in April 2015.
Its shares traded 1.32% higher at 1.1550 lei as at 1119 CET on Monday on the BVB.
(1 euro=4.6375 lei)