Oakton Limited FY2008 Full Year Results and Outlook

Released: 19 Aug 2008

FY2008 Headlines

• Record revenue of $201.29m (up 75.3%), EBITDA of $41.01m (up 37.7%) and NPAT of $27.63m (up 34.6%)
• Diluted earnings per share increased to 31.1 cents, 31.2% higher than last year
• Record final fully franked dividend of 12.00 cents, up 17.1% on last year, making total dividend payout for the year of 23.00 cents, 13.6% higher than last year
• Ended June 2008 with 1,289 staff, 286 more than the same time last year
• Operating cash flow of $24.89m up 51.0% on last year
• Completion of the Acumen Alliance integration and brand transition
• Continued growth of Oakton’s offshore operation in India
• Increase in project size and duration
• Entered FY09 with a record level of committed revenue
• Continued margin improvement post the Acumen Alliance integration
• Appointment of additional senior management
• Enhanced internal quality and risk management processes and upgrades to internal systems to manage business growth and scale

Australian consulting and IT services provider Oakton Limited [ASX:OKN] today announced a record full-year net profit after tax of $27.63 million for the year ended June 2008 – a 34.6% increase on last year’s net profit result. Revenue increased by 75.3% to $201.29 million and EBITDA increased by 37.7% to $41.01 million during the period.

The Oakton Board declared a fully-franked final dividend of 12.00 cents per share 17.1% higher than last year’s final dividend of 10.25 cents per share. The total dividend payout for the year is 23.00 cents, st th up 13.6% on last year. The dividend will be paid on the 1 October 2008 with a record date of the 17 September 2008.

Neil Wilson, Oakton’s Managing Director and CEO, made comment on the result: “Oakton has continued the growth momentum of the last few years and delivered another record result. We are particularly pleased to see the excellent progress with cash management, margin improvement and the increase in larger and longer projects which is driving a higher level of year to year committed revenue.”

“The integration of Acumen continues with major milestones of back office consolidation and brand transition now complete. We have very quickly become one team with a clear focus on establishing a position in the Canberra market as a leading consulting and IT services provider.”

“During the year we were very pleased to receive recognition from our clients in the BRW client choice awards where we were selected as the best IT services provider and the best professional services firm in the under $200m revenue category. This is a highly regarded award and we thank our clients for this recognition.”

“Once again, our great management team and consulting workforce have shown commitment to the game plan and have delivered excellent financial results in addition to continuing to build the foundation for business growth. I would like to thank each and every one of our staff for their dedication and contribution.”

“We believe the market still supports ongoing growth and we acknowledge, as we did in February, that the environment is less predictable than it has been following the changes in market conditions as a result of the credit crisis, interest rate impacts and the change of federal government. Notwithstanding this, we believe there are still a number of industry based drivers that would suggest that IT investment is still a key component to many clients’ strategic initiatives and should continue to increase on a year on year basis.”

“We believe we have established the foundations and momentum to continue to grow and to build on our market positioning as a specialist business systems player with a clear service offer, a scale to match any global player locally, long standing client and staff relationships and track record of successful acquisition integration.”

Oakton Chairman, Paul Holyoake, commented on the result saying “This is another excellent result and on behalf of the Oakton Board I would like to thank our clients, staff and shareholders for their effort and continuing support.”

Oakton will hold its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 22 October 2008 at 10am in its Melbourne offices, Level 8, 271 Collins Street, Melbourne.

Further information:

Neil Wilson
Managing Director and CEO

John Phillips
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: +61 3 9617 0200

About Oakton Limited: Oakton Limited is a consulting and information technology company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange [ASX:OKN]. Capitalised at approximately $A315 million (August 2008), Oakton has provided services to large and medium sized organisations for more than 20 years. Oakton provides a range of consulting and IT services centred around business operations and systems. The services cover business consulting, IT strategy, planning services, delivery services in solution design, custom software development, packaged software implementation, information management and system integration solutions. Oakton also provides a service offering to fully manage organisations’ operational systems. The company has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and Hyderabad (India).

For more information refer to www.oakton.com.au

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