³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Newry-based FD Technologies made a pre-tax loss of £1.2m last year due to one-off restructuring costs and investment in a new IT system.

The company primarily provides software and services to investment banks and other financial institutions.

Turnover was up by 12% from £264m to £296m.

Chief executive Seamus Keating said that despite the loss it had been "a year of strong execution on our strategy".

The company has three units: the KX software division, First Derivative services and consulting division and the MRP marketing technology division.

The firm has been focused growing subscription sales of its KX software products and positioning them as a tool for AI developers.

Revenues at the KX business were up 25% while the consulting business business saw revenue growth of 18%.

However, sales were down 19% at MRP due to continuing tough market conditions.

Businesses in the technology sector use MRP as a tool to generate sales leads and so that division has suffered as technology businesses in the US have cut back on spending.

The overall group loss was attributed restructuring costs, particularly at MRP, the cost of implementing a new IT system and one-off costs to address legacy employee tax liabilities.

In this financial year the business is forecasting revenues in the range of £315m to £325m.