Do StoreData results indicate slowdown in UK construction collaboration market?

With Asite‘s financial performance now less public following its delisting from London’s AIM earlier this week, it is more difficult to assess what impact the recession is having on collaboration vendors. However, troubled retail fit-out specialist contractor Styles & Wood has a support business, StoreData, which competes in the UK construction collaboration technology market, and its latest results suggest there may have been a slow-down in 2008.

According to a London Stock Exchange announcement of its final results today, Styles & Wood group revenues dropped 23% and a 2007 pre-tax profit of £11.8m was turned into a loss of £0.9m in 2008 (material contract losses and non-recurring items of £4.7m wiped out a modest £3.8m profit). The support services division “performed well in 2008” with total revenues of £31.0m (2007: £31.5m) generating an operating profit of £2.5m (2007: £4.2m); StoreData’s revenues were 10% down from £1.506m to £1.350m (no profit figure was given for StoreData alone).

If StoreData’s figures are representative of other collaboration technology vendors, these are worrying times, particularly as StoreData has been associated with retail clients, some of whom have been weathering the recession better than others. However, StoreData’s downward trend was evident a year ago – it suffered a 6% drop in revenues in 2007 putting it some way behind its 2006 peak of £1.594m (see StoreData stagnating in 2007).