An e-learning firm specialising in the oil and gas sector has seen its profits fall by 66% despite an increase in “learning events” in the year.
Atlas Interactive, which recently won a seven-year extension on its contract to deliver a revised Minimum Industry Safety Training (Mist) online course, also saw its turnover fall 25% to £7million in the year to the end of September 2014.
Atlas said it capped a year of investment and growth in the international oil and gas marketplace with a “positive outlook ahead”.
The revenue decrease was said to be due to two large multi-year bespoke projects coming to aqn end in the first half of the year, and new product development projects taking longer to bring to the market than planned.
The firm saw a decline in staff numbers from 86 in 2013 to 74 in the period.
John Rowley, who has been the Aberdeen firm’s managing director since 2011 also left during the year.
Atlas said the “change in leadership” had delivered results “more in line with both the prior year and expectations with a sharp rebound in profitability”.
According to the firm’s accounts posted at Companies House, the top paid director of the firm got £275,000 in 2013 but this fell in 2014 to £186,507.
The accounts also noted that international markets made up 73% of turnover in the period, up from 51% on the prior year.
Meanwhile, the company delivered 417,000 “learning events” in the year, and increase of 7%.
In a statement on the firm’s accounts, it said that profitability was “expected to continue with three large multi-year contracts secured during the last six months of 2014 contributing significantly to the growth in profitability this year and beyond”.
Jamie Bennett, the founder Atlas sold the firm to private-equity investor HgCapital for an undisclosed sum in November 2007.
Robert Morgan, chairman at Atlas, said: “To maintain our business is a fantastic achievement in the current market environment, and is testament to our strong model and financing structure, as well as the outstanding quality of our global staff.
“Although the current climate in our core sector, oil and gas, is difficult, we have started our new financial year well and anticipate continued growth in the months ahead.”
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