Profits double at Dundee ATM software firm I-Design

I-Design, the Dundee-based maker of software that allows ATM operators to display adverts on their machines, has seen its full-year profits more than double despite a 7 per cent dip in revenues.

The firm blamed a downturn in the advertising market for the fall in revenues, which came in at £3.3 million for the year to 30 September, down from £3.5m a year earlier.

However, an increase in software revenues and the capitalisation of research and development costs helped push pre-tax profits to £217,000, more than double the previous year’s figure of £105,000.

During the year I-Design won an exclusive advertising agreement covering about 1,000 cash machines located at Asda stores and it recently claimed an industry first by updating its software to remember cardholders’ favourite transactions, with building society Nationwide signing up as the first customer for the service.

Chairman James Faulds said: “We anticipate that, in the short term, the market will remain challenging but our sales pipeline remains encouraging and the board remains positive about the group’s growth prospects in the longer term.”

I-Design was co-founded by chief executive Ana Stewart in 1991 and it floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2007.