Craneware reaps US rewards with jump in revenues

CEO Keith Neilson believes Craneware has the potential and the opportunity to do more than $1 billion worth of sales. Picture: Contributed

The Edinburgh-based firm, which focuses primarily on the US healthcare sector, reported 16 per cent revenue growth to $67.1 million (£52.3m) for the year ended 30 June. Its profit before tax increased by 12 per cent to $18.9m.

Craneware saw new sales jump some 100 per cent year-on-year, including five significant contracts wins or extensions, and its overall sales rose by 83 per cent, including renewals.

Sales in the year, which refers to the value expected from a customer under their current contract, hit $98.6m, a significant increase from $54m in 2017.

The company said it currently has a record sales pipeline, made up of the expected value of current customer contracts, as well as predicted renewals and potential new product sales to existing and future customers, but did not disclose this figure.

Keith Neilson, chief executive, expects the firm to continue growing and its sales values to dramatically increase.

Speaking to The Scotsman, he said: “We have been investing heavily in both product and people over the last few years and [this result] is the culmination of that, together with the mobilisation of our customer base speaking about our products and taking that forward.”

“I do believe that there is the potential and the opportunity for Craneware to do more than $1 billion worth of sales in a year, so we’ve got to make sure we live up to that opportunity.”

Neilson said the company had the potential to fill a need in the US market for a “new class of product” to join up software systems within the hospital environment.

He added: “Ultimately we want to able to influence all the non-bedside decisions within the hospital, not just being able to provide information, but also provide tools for hospitals to be able to get the best decisions out of that.

“It’s all about the future and the opportunity we’ve got there.

“We truly can impact both US healthcare and because of that, in the long-term, be able to start to impact global healthcare for the better.”

John Moore, senior investment manager at Brewin Dolphin in Scotland, said: “A decade after it went public and straight into the financial crisis, Craneware is a great example of a ground-up, independent success story in Scotland – something that is regrettably rare.

“Craneware’s sales pipeline is at record levels, which bodes well for the future, and management has delivered a very upbeat statement about the business’s future prospects.

“The company announced a number of significant contracts, but the scale of the US healthcare market remains vast and there is still much potential for growth.”