Diligent CEO Sodi mulls use for cash, sees growth to come

Tuesday 16th October 2012

Diligent Board Member Services chief executive Alex Sodi sees more growth to come for the corporate governance software maker as more boardrooms switch to a paperless filing system.

Speaking to BusinessDesk, Sodi said the market was expanding and sales were likely to top US$50 million for the full year.

"In the short-term we're not going to be Google, but if you look at the margins and cash-flow we've been delivering - US$10 million, US$20 million, US$50 million - I think we have delivered," said Sodi.

"It's a question of when we're going to get to US$75 million" turnover, rather than if, he said

The company was sitting on a cash pile of US$25.6 million and would be making decisions on how to use it in the next couple of months, although acquisitions appear not to be on the agenda, with Diligent operating in a niche space, developing its own software.

The New York-based company boosted third-quarter revenue 145 percent to US$11.8 million in the three months ended Sept. 30, taking year-to-date sales to US$30.2 million. Sodi expects more upside as the popularity of his firm's Boardbooks product extends on to other platforms such as Google's Android, and Microsoft's Windows, and as it looks to grow sales in Europe.

Diligent has gone from strength to strength in the past two years after cashing in on the increasing popularity of Apple Inc's iPad with its Boardbooks application. The firm has attracted almost a quarter of Fortune 1000 companies as customers, and counts 1,615 companies on its client base, with more than 2,330 board and 46,000 users worldwide.

The NZX-listed stock has surged as high as $4.09 from just 7 cents a share in the depths of the global financial crisis in 2009. It fell 1.8 percent to $3.74 today, and has more than doubled this year.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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