Companies: DATA    FLO   

Cautious and astute numbers man Keith Butcher, a driving force behind payments processing star Datacash, sees equal potential in his latest charge, the unfancied tech small fry Flomerics. ‘I have a three-year plan to grow profits and hit our City numbers,’ explains the ambitious tech-savvy finance director who joined the Hampton Court-headquartered software simulation outfit in January.

Referring to the need to meet forecasts, he notes a recent earnings alert from the company, which followed over-estimates, not by Butcher, of how quickly the AIM counter could grow sales at NIKA, its German acquisition.

Losses in the first six months of 2007 meant full-year profits would disappoint, though Flomerics still made more than £1 million before tax. It finished the year with more than £2.7 million cash.

Butcher sees similarities with DataCash: ‘Our cost base is fairly fixed and if we can grow our revenue gently it will drop through to profit, which means we could make a lot of money.’

Shares in Flomerics, peaking over 52 weeks at 110p, are now 56p, valuing the company at £12 million. During his six-year stint at DataCash, Butcher helped oversee a dramatic market-cap surge from £8 million to more than £250 million.