A key acquisition in late 2011 fueled record revenue for Irvine-based software maker Kofax PLC in its latest fiscal year.
The company, which is publicly traded in London but has its executives based here, posted an 8% rise in revenue to $262.5 million in the year ended June 30.
Annual adjusted profit totaled $16 million, 125% more than a year earlier.
Kofax’s purchase of Northern Ireland-based Singularity Ltd. in December for up to $46.6 million, including benchmark payments, drove the sales gains, Chief Executive Reynolds Bish said.
“That was very significant for Kofax, because it extended our product capabilities,” Bish said.
The acquisition provided an entry into the process-management market. The segment is expected to grow 10% annually to $4 billion in sales by 2016, according to New York-based market tracker Harvey Spencer Associates Inc.
Singularity—based in Derry, Northern Ireland, with operations in Belfast, London, and India—contributed $10.3 million to Kofax’s top line in its recently ended fiscal year.
Singularity software helps companies handle daily operations, such as invoice and claims processing, data capture and automation, while Kofax makes scanning software used by businesses to get rid of paper and speed up productivity. Their combined data capture product offerings are sold via the cloud or on a subscription basis.
Kofax won more than 2,300 new customers in fiscal 2012, including a $4.2 million contract to provide data-capture services for an undisclosed U.S. government agency.
Kofax’s deal with Wellesley, Mass.-based ViziApps Inc. late last year allows customers to use smart phones and tablets to input information, capture documents and send images to Kofax’s internal operations system. The partnership and a $500,000 investment in the company led Kofax to launch a mobile application in June that initiates business processes at the point of origin.
The investment was the first of its kind for Kofax, which wanted to add a mobile component to its business offerings but didn’t want to do so through an acquisition.
“We wanted to ensure their financial sustainability and validity in the near future,” Bish said.
Kofax employs 366 people in Irvine and 1,202 companywide. It is the county’s eighth-largest software maker by revenue, according to Business Journal research.
Kofax’s largest customers include JPMorgan Chase and Co., Reuters and Allianz SE, the German parent of investment manager Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach.
