Jade forge ahead after tough year

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Jade Software Corporation has had a tough year selling to the finance and logistics sectors but it has still managed to expand its reach, securing two critical port contracts.

Chief executive Craig Richardson said Jade's revenue for the 12 months to December 31, 2009, was expected to be about $47 million, down from $50.8m last year. Net profit, which was $3.7m last year, was also expected to fall.

"The results are below what we would like, but in line with what was expected," he said.

Jade's international strategy focused on logistics management for ports and railways, the financial services sector and investigation software used by police in Australia and Britain.

In 2008, 25 per cent of Jade's revenue was from the financial sector and nearly 20 per cent was from logistics.

But both the financial service and logistics sector had been hit hard by last year's global downturn, he said.

"None of them have been particularly strong [last year] but we've managed to balance it."

Yesterday, Jade said it had secured a contract to supply its Jade Master Terminal software to port manager Gulftainer at Abu Dhabi's new container port, Ruwais.

It is the first time Jade has broken into the tough Middle East market, adding to its footprint in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

It comes after Jade won a similar contract with Messina Line last June, at the Nino Ronco port in Genoa, Italy.

"There are growth opportunities that we are starting to see in the logistics business in some pretty tough conditions."

Jade's Genoa contract was worth more than 2 million (NZ$3.9m) but Mr Richardson would not disclose the value of the Abu Dhabi contract.

Existing logistics customers include CentrePort, Port Otago, Port Nelson, DCT Gdansk (Poland), DB Schenker Rail (Europe), Bombardier (Canada) and The Warehouse.

Similar opportunities with ports and railways were being pursued in Europe and North America and Jade had employed a global logistics director, Howard Wren, to help.

Mr Wren most recently worked as Aecom's ports and marine technical director and has been behind many high-profile international projects in the ports sector.

Mr Richardson described employing Mr Wren, recognised as a world-leading container terminal design and development consultant, as a coup for Jade.

It was part of Jade's plan to move past the survival mode of recent years and more aggressively promote itself as global player in logistics management, he said.

One of Jade's more innovative moves is adapting its existing software to work on iPhones and iPads.

"Clients want to be mobile, we need to be delivering our experience not just through a terminal."

- © Fairfax NZ News