‘Over the last 12 months we’ve totally transformed and reinvigorated this business, and demand has never been higher’, says Pat Ryan, chairman of Ofex-graduate Appian Technology, the supplier of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology that moved to AIM early this year.

In July the company, whose products are also used for vehicle identification, traffic management, parking guidance and car park management, acquired rival ANPR systems supplier Genesis for a total cash and shares consideration that could reach £2.98m depending on profits. To fund the cash element and top up working capital, Appian attracted £2.3m through an issue of new shares priced at 8.75p with the help of broker JM Finn & Co.

Ryan argues this was a key strategic deal, bringing critical mass in the fast growing ANPR market. Genesis is rolling out its Shark range to a number of UK police forces, complementing Appian’s Talon range and giving great positioning within the key police market.

Appian, which supplies its technology to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a mystery Mediterranean country for counter terrorist and policing purposes among other international projects, drove home encouraging half time figures to March, with turnover lifted 35% to £1.94m and losses narrowed to £193,000 (£421,000).

For the year, Duncan Hall at house broker J.M. Finn & Co envisages a swing to normalised pre-tax profits of £50,000 on dramatically weightier sales of £4.5m (£2.9m).

Next year, investors could expect profits of £880,000, giving earnings of 0.56p and a forward p/e of 15.4. Heightened security issues and a bumper pipeline of highly sensitive projects in play mean Appian is a compelling prospect, although the shares are for risk takers only at this stage. Speculative.

Appian Technology	AIM	£1.57m	0.85p	0.00p
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